Arts Lab 6.0: Salah Mehdaoui - Month 4

This month started with a fundraising challenge for the association, where each group showcased their talents. Our team organized VR and photography sessions at Best Pizza and Cafenescu in Târgu Frumos. The owners were very welcoming and even expressed interest in hosting us for future events. Later, we learned the hidden lesson behind this activity—the importance of networking and promoting your organization. It made us realize that even when our efforts feel small, they can still have a significant impact.

Before the main exhibition in Iași, we held another MAF exhibition at the Biblioteca Orașului Târgu-Frumos. We had the chance to meet many children who were excited to explore the projects and engage with the artwork. Their curiosity and enthusiasm made the event truly memorable. 

We closed the first half of the project with the MAF exhibition at Negru Zi in Iași, where all the volunteers presented their artwork. It was a wonderful way to reflect on our personal artwork and share the creative projects we had worked on throughout the residency.

For the holiday break, I spent the first week in Cluj-Napoca, exploring the city and trying different local food spots. I returned to Târgu Frumos for the second week to enjoy the fireworks.

In January, we began working on the Rroma Museum project. This time, it focused on personal artworks rather than the residency. For my contribution, I decided to use photography to tell stories about the daily lives of the Rroma community. This required some research, and I also visited a local area in Târgu Frumos to meet and learn from community members.

Regarding the residency, we are now working with youth from Ion Creangă School. We have already met them, and they seemed excited about the diversity of our workshops. The goal of this project is to explore what Rroma and non-Rroma youth envision for their lives, focusing on their emotional development and giving them space to share their challenges and express themselves through art.

As this third project unfolds, I’m eager to see the results and how the youth use creativity to address and share their stories. 

Report by Salah Mehdaoui, a volunteer from Algeria and one of the 14 participants in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.