the street is our gallery

‘PASS ON THE FLAME’ is a charity art project, that explores cultural identity and heritage. It reflects on cultural similarities and differences. It presents different interpretations of the beauty of cultures and their flames that are worth being safeguarded. The connection and interaction between identity and culture happens not only in the minds of street-artists who took part in this project, but also has value in the mixture and reinterpretation in the eye of the beholder.

When Andrea, founder of the ABURY Foundation, came to Morocco working with craftsmen in 2008, she was captivated by the immense handicraft heritage of its people. Sadly, many of these skills are vanishing as a result of the fast consumerism that plagues society today. With them, the beauty, wisdom, identity and stories are also at risk of being lost to the past. Andrea started collecting traditional handmade leather Berberbags. Handmade bags that people wouldn’t wear anymore – bags that have become a symbol of lost cultural heritage, heritage that is not valued anymore. And with them – a small piece of cultural identity gets lost.

What does it mean to us as a global community to grow up and live in a world that increasingly looses cultural identities and traditions? What role does cultural identity play today? Will we create one global cultural identity? Or are we simply loosing the beauty of our differences?

Ten contemporary artists accepted the challenge of answering these questions. The challenge was “to pass on the flame” to the Berberbag as a symbol for lost cultural heritage and merge it with their expressive thoughts and feelings. The result: ten Art Charity Berberbags, that currently hang at the 6th Edition of the Biennale in Marrakesh, will be auctioned in support of the ABURY Foundation with proceeds going directly into education for children in the Atlas Mountains.

This joint project of the ABURY Foundation and ATTOLLO Art, in cooperation with the Marrakech Biennale Street Art project (aka MB6: Street Art), looks to foster intercultural dialogue, and proves that art can delight, inspire, connect and make a difference.

Get one of the unique art pieces and support the ABURY Foundation at the same time. To participate – place your bids, on

http://auction.catawiki.com/art-for-charity-auction between the 29th of April – 8thMay.