Manhattan College To Present Human Rights Painting Project Exhibition

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – A selection of paintings by artist Tom Block will go on display Feb. 6 in the fifth floor lobby and alumni room of Manhattan College’s O’Malley Library. The Human Rights Painting Project exhibit, sponsored by the Manhattan College archives, will run until May 2.

The exhibit will open with a reception in the alumni room from 4:30 - 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6. During the reception, Block will deliver an illustrated lecture Artist as Shaman in an Age of Uncertainty.

Block, a long-time member of Amnesty International, created the Human Rights Painting Project in 2002 to raise awareness of human rights issues around the world, and to support the work of Amnesty International. According to the organization, people in more than 150 countries are at risk of torture or ill treatment on any given day.

Block uses a contemporary artistic voice to interpret difference aspects of the struggle for human rights and emphasize the stories that bring that to life. Biographies of each individual featured accompany the paintings.

The paintings capture the range of emotions experienced in the battle for human rights: fear, destitution, pain, hope and joy. The works bring together man’s best and worst impulses, and the heroes of the images are a counterpoint to the regimes and authorities that forced them into that role.

The individuals whose portraits are exhibited were chosen for their unremitting belief that a single human being can make a difference. Against impossible odds, working alone or in small groups of like-minded citizens, they stood up to corrupt and often violent governments in lands such as Colombia, China, Albania, Guatemala and even the United States.

The Human Rights Painting Project has been exhibited in 25 different galleries, universities and museums venues throughout the United States and Europe. For more information, please visit:
www.humanrightspaintingproject.com.

If you have questions about this exhibit, please call Amy Surak, Manhattan College archivist, at (718) 862-7139 or e-mail amy.surak@manhattan.edu. Manhattan College is located at West 242nd Street near Broadway in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, one mile from the Westchester County line, and accessible by MTA subway line 1. For directions to the campus, visit www.manhattan.edu. 

Founded in 1853, Manhattan College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of undergraduate study in the areas of arts, business, education, engineering and science, along with graduate programs in education and engineering. For more information about Manhattan College, visit www.manhattan.edu.