User:Stefantunedal/sandbox

Mirca Art Group The 'Mirca Art Group' is an international association of painters, sculptors, photographers and art lovers which creates projects connected with social justice and environmental issues. Founded on May 2nd, 2007, by early 2008 the group had developed an internet presence and grew in membership through social media. In February 2008, several Mirca Art Group members proposed to make a protest against the imprisonment in Burma of Aung San Suu Kyi; by October of the same year, they had released a book, entitled 'Freedom & Art', with 74 Mirca artists participating in support of Suu Kyi. This was followed in 2009 by an exhibition protesting against honour killings, held in memory of Fadime Sahindal, a Swedish woman killed in 2002 by her father for having relations with a man. Also in 2009, the Mirca Tour for Human Rights, which involved 70 Mirca artists, placed the spotlight on the United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, while a school project brought students from schools in Australia, Germany and Malta together to learn from each other and engage in cross-cultural contact. A second book was released in March 2010, entitled 'Planet Earth Planet Art', featuring the works of 95 Mirca members in support of Friends of the Earth. The Mirca Art Group has also implemented several direct actions, most notably to seek out and free Mohammad Bin Lamin, a Mirca artist from Libya who was arrested and imprisoned at the beginning of the 2011 revolution in that country. Mirca members waited for six unbearable months to hear whether he was still alive, and shared great relief and joy at the news that he had been freed from the notorious Abu Salim prison unharmed. Current membership of Mirca Art Group as at May 2014 stands at around 250 members.