Researching Reform offers its blog as a platform to children who are budding artists, as well as adult artists who produce child focused content. This month it gives us great pleasure to introduce this picture by a very talented young woman.

Karam Herbst is 15, and went to schools in Germany and Uzbekistan. Her hobbies are painting, volleyball, football and basketball. She painted this picture for an exhibition at her school entitled, “Children In War.”

Karam is passionate about expressing herself through visual arts, particularly as a way to raise awareness around serious issues. She tells Researching Reform:

“It is very sad that many people who are not directly impacted by war, see children of war only as a number on the news and don’t get the chance to have any emotional connection with them. I really hope my art will one day reach a lot of people in order to raise awareness and to inspire change.”

As children increasingly find themselves caught up in war zones, countries rife with conflict and occupation, this painting is not only timely, but a poignant reminder of how deeply traumatic these events are for children.

We would like to thank Karam enormously for allowing us to share her painting. We hope she will continue to paint, and develop her outstanding gift. A very big thank you also to Karam’s father, Peter.

You can view Karam’s artwork over on her instagram account @annakaramm.

This month’s featured image is a painting by contemporary artist Albina Kourmirova, entitled “Glorious March of Authorities”. Albina is an accomplished painter who has showcased her work and lectured widely on contemporary art. Albina’s work focuses on the impact the UK family justice system has on families and specifically children, by exploring the themes of power, corruption and compassion within child social care.

Her award-winning work is often raw and compelling and highlights the tensions between established norms which no longer offer children the protection they deserve, and the important work that needs to be done to ensure vulnerable children are cared for properly.

We think this image is rather profound. Faceless, nameless government figures marching over the children they are tasked with protecting as the march, or the ceaseless process, continues unaffected or altered by the impact it has on families inside the system. It is a stark reminder of how bureaucracy and bottom lines can make us numb to the very job we are assigned to do in the first place. That standing by and doing nothing, is as inexcusable as actively causing harm.

Notwithstanding the important message this haunting painting sends out, the artwork itself is stunning, and so this month, Albina’s wryly titled, “Glorious March of Authorities” is our featured image.

It’s one of our favourite websites on Planet Earth, and their iconic photos of children throughout the ages are always a source of fascination for us.

This month we’ve chosen to feature this gorgeous photo of children playing on an enormous chair. Taken from Retronaut’s excellent archive, the origin of this photo is unknown but dates back to the 1950’s. We especially love the happy dog snuggling in the corner of the sofa and the boys excitedly dangling from the top of the chair.

Retronaut describes itself as a photographic time machine, a digital collection of thousands of searchable photos. We may or may not have spent many hours ogling the massive database of Wonderful…..

Gita Mistry has been called the greatest Indian cook in Britain; she has also won BBC Britain’s Best Home Cook and has featured in numerous national magazines, newspapers and TV programmes.

Gita is also an avid Twitter tweeter, which is where we met her and we’ve enjoyed watching her cook and being inspired by her delicious dishes, on many occasions.

Our picture of the month is a painting Gita herself created, and we thought it was perfect for this time of year. A lady of many talents….

We wish you all a merry Christmas!

If you would like us to host your photos, drawings and pictures, do get in touch. We feature children’s drawings and grown ups’ etches too 🙂 all with a family friendly theme….