A cross-cultural youth art exhibition that ran in Carrara, Italy, from July 23 to August 14 brought together young painters from the city and its Chinese sister city of Yunfu to celebrate the friendship between the two stone-industry hubs.
The exhibition stemmed from an international youth painting contest jointly organized by Yunfu and Carrara to mark 10 years since they became sister cities in 2016. The contest invited students aged 6-18 in both cities to depict their visions of friendship and urban life.
In Yunfu, over 280 entries were submitted by local primary and secondary schools. Seventy-five works were shortlisted by a professional judging panel, winning 6 gold, 8 silver, 11 bronze and 50 merit awards. The selected works were shipped to Carrara and exhibited alongside 14 pieces by local young artists.
The event marked the first large-scale showing of works by Yunfu children on the official art platform of an overseas sister city. The exhibition also created a two-way dialogue: Yunfu students painted their impressions of Carrara, while Carrara's youth portrayed Yunfu, though most participants had never visited the other city.
Both cities share a deep-rooted stone culture — Yunfu with over 400 years of stone-processing history and Carrara with marble quarrying dating back to Roman times. Over the past decade, cooperation has expanded from industry and trade to urban governance and cultural exchange. The art initiative used children's creativity as a bridge for cultural exchange, strengthening people-to-people bonds for the decade ahead.
Author | Jiang Chang
Photos | Nanfang Plus
