“Dog is man’s best friend,” goes the colloquialism attributed to Frederick II, King of Prussia.
Rabies is friend to neither.
Louis Masai for Mission Rabies. Blantyre, Malawi. May 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)
To Malawi today we go to school with artist Louis Masai, who just painted three happy vaccinated dogs with colorfully patterned ears during eight days with the goal of raising the discussion about the vicious disease that has hurt this country.
With Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique as neighbors, landlocked Malawi has about 17 million people and its capital Blantyre has one of the highest rates of child rabies anywhere in Africa. Along with Mission Rabies, a voluntary veterinary team, the artist has been working to make it the lowest.
Louis Masai for Mission Rabies. Blantyre, Malawi. May 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)
Masai tells us that since May of 2015, the volunteers have vaccinated more than 35,000 dogs in Blantyre, vastly lowering the threat to children, and his new paintings are meant as a point of reference for the educational component of the Mission Rabies campaign.
“Using acrylics and brushes, I painted three murals of local dogs that I had met and whom the vets were treating,” he tells us of the new works inside the walls of local schools.
“It’s not unusual to have 5,000 to 8,000 children in a school, so it’s an incredibly busy and awesome place to host an education program,” he says. “The concept is that with the murals in situ, the teachers and students can discuss the information passed on to them by Mission Rabies and their team.”
Sometimes people can be man’s best friend as well.
Louis Masai for Mission Rabies. Blantyre, Malawi. May 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)
Louis Masai for Mission Rabies. Blantyre, Malawi. May 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)
Louis Masai for Mission Rabies. Blantyre, Malawi. May 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)
Louis Masai for Mission Rabies. Blantyre, Malawi. May 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)
Learn more about Mission Rabies here: http://www.missionrabies.com/projects/malawi/
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Kristina Borhes & Nazar Tymoshchuk at MZM Projects bring us an exemplary profile of the French public art/street artist/fine artist Eltono. A former graffiti writer and semi-professional lounger,...
Today we celebrate Mother's Day in the USA and Mexico and about 70 other countries. Cheers and thank you to all the mothers of the world. If only we would stop paying lip service to the foundat...
These portholes that pop up on walls in New York are often more spooky than you might expect; their framing so realistic, their contents so perplexing. At first these inner views appear as a subt...
Poland’s Bezt and Sainer of Etam Cru start your week with a cup of coffee and this wall completed during late October in Rome. The soaring mural features the illustration style and palette that has di...
Happy Holidays to all of you charming and sparkling BSA readers! It’s been a raucous sleigh ride with you and we thank everyone most sincerely for your support and participation this year. A sort o...