C.O.I.L project: Draw a Child

Title: Draw a Child
Medium: Digital Composite Poster
Dimensions: 18x24 in, 300dpi

This provocative and surreal poster confronts the brutal challenges many children in South Africa face just to access education. At first glance, the artwork appears whimsical — a child-sized black orthopedic shoe has been transformed into a wheeled vehicle, complete with four rugged car tires and a metallic steering wheel emerging from its collar. But quickly, the viewer is struck by the jarring details: the cracked, desolate road beneath it, the eerie mountainous backdrop fading into darkness, and most disturbingly, the ominous bloodstain splashed across the side of the shoe.

The piece is a metaphor for the perilous and often violent journeys children endure simply to attend school, where transportation, safety, and infrastructure are not guaranteed. The shoe-on-wheels hybrid becomes a symbol of survival and self-reliance, yet also absurdity, as if children are expected to become their own vehicles of escape and endurance in the face of systemic neglect.

Created through an international collaboration between three Florida International University (FIU) students and three students from a South African college, this piece represents a fusion of global empathy and local truth. It was powerful enough to earn a place in a South African museum exhibition, opening dialogue across continents about access to education and the human right to safety in learning.

The title, Draw a Child, plays ironically on the simplicity of a childhood drawing assignment, highlighting how far removed these children’s reality is from innocence. Instead of drawing a child, the piece draws attention to them.