2019 Winners & Shortlists

Cultural/Context information for the jury.

Thousands of children go missing in Pakistan every year, efforts to recover them are limited as they are displaced quickly to areas where traditional media does not penetrate. To raise awareness of missing children in Pakistan, we utilized a very local media device that had never been used before: "Truck Art," a unique form of art found in Pakistan in which transport and goods trucks traveling across the country are customarily painted and decorated with elaborate floral patterns, animals, icons, portraits and calligraphy. These brilliantly painted works of art often include portraits of famous personalities - actors, sportspersons, military chiefs, and politicians. In place of personalities, we collaborated with conceptual artist Samar Minallah Khan who replicated the last photograph of the missing child and painted these trucks with not only the portrait, but a helpline number and information about the child. The trucks so far have recovered 3 children in 4 weeks, through 1,015 calls received.