Getting Smart with Street Art: A Wellness Revolution?
In August, Alchemus Prime supported a beautiful project that combined youth empowerment, street art skills, and learning about food and wellness to create Fiji’s first ever public mural. Dr. Margaret Cornelius and I led two short conversations to help youth, primarily girls, understand the relationships between:
- Food and nutrition
- Food and lifestyle diseases
- Food and climate change
We also gave the group an experiential exercise to detect the risk factors in their family members and themselves. The connections we wanted these young artists to make was between plant-based foods and wellness, and animal-based foods and lifestyle diseases. Our aim was to empower these leaders of tomorrow to revolutionize their own lives through their daily food choices, and to share their powerful talent in ways that would make the residents of Fiji’s capital, Suva, think deeply about their food choices and choose wellness. See for yourself if they hit the mark (photos of the process and the mural are below).
Diabetes a killer in Fiji, with 1 in 3 adults suffering from the condition, and 1 diabetes-related amputation every 8 hours! Heart disease and obesity are on the rise as well, and not only here, so this beautiful project is timely and crucial for Fijians and for everyone.
Last weekend, His Excellency Joseph Cella, the United States Ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu, officially unveiled the mural. It was a joyous occasion as we witnessed the youth artists receiving their certificates. Nakita Irvin of Tasty Kitchen Collective Fiji and Tasty Island Treats brought it all together, and said some inspiring words about the project. Breakfast at Fiji One followed up with Nakita and produced this excellent video segment.
Alchemus Prime is honored to have been invited to be involved in this ground-breaking project, with partners, Graffiti Camp, the United States Embassy, Tasty Kitchen Collective and Tasty Island Treats, International School Suva, and Kanalevu Kitchen.
Ask yourself if you are optimizing your wellness and planetary wellness through your food choices – the answer to feeling your best and doing good for the climate and environment is on your plate!
