MA’s Belgium fundraiser focuses on crisis in Darfur
by CARE & MA
The current conflict in Darfur continues to be complex, caused by a host of political, social, economic and environmental problems.
Darfur Photography courtesy CARE
Event Photography courtesy Kevin ByrdÂ
The current conflict in Darfur continues to be complex, caused by a host of political, social, economic and environmental problems. The result is a humanitarian crisis affecting millions of people. The conflict erupted in early 2003. Fighting among various factions has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than two million, most escaping to larger towns where they stay in camps for “internally displaced people (IDP)”, and some crossing the border into Chad, where they live in refugee camps, straining local resources. Attacks on civilians during the conflict have been brutal and include burning homes, killing and rape.
A Sudanese woman holds her infant while resting at the Mosay Internally Displaced Persons camp near Nyala in the Darfur region of Sudan. CARE is assisting some 400,000 IDPs throughout Sudan.
Sudanese women prepare food together at the Mosay Internally Displaced Persons camp near Nyala in the Darfur region of Sudan.
CARE has been active since April 2004 and currently provides direct humanitarian assistance to over 526,000 war-affected people in Darfur and in neighboring Chad. CARE’s work includes water and sanitation, community services and distribution of food and other relief.
In May, MA, in an exclusive collaboration with CARE, DOMUS, JEFFREY, EXTREMIS, JARNO KETTUNEN, THE ATLANTAN, and SCAD, all teamed-up for a very special Darfur fundraiser focused on Belgium’s top design and fashion. Proceeds went to CARE for Darfur humanitarian relief.
Jeffrey-Atlanta/New York provided top Belgian fashion from the spring/summer collections of Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester.
Extremis provided a very cool outdoor lounge and its founder, Dirk Wynants attended the headliner event that took place on a concrete slab in a light industrial park located in up and coming Midtown West, Atlanta’s latest design destination and home to Poliform-Atlanta, Knoll, Herman Miller, Fontanna Arte, and retromodern.
Inside, Antwerp-based Finnish illustrator Jarno Kettunen created a sensation putting his creative talent to work with renderings of runway models dressed in Belgium fashion. Afterwards Kettunen’s drawings were placed on exhibit and sold-out within minutes. MA would like to thank everyone who attended and supported the fundraiser and collaboration. Special thanks to Skylar Morgan for use of his design studio and to Memhet Dogu for design and layout.