The artist using his creative career to end malaria
Láolú became involved in this campaign to beat malaria in his home country Nigeria and the African continent. Join him to Draw The Line Against Malaria.
As a former human rights lawyer turned activist and global artist, Láolú Senbanjo has seen how combining collective action with creativity can change the world. As a Nigerian, he also knows that Nigeria carries a quarter of the world’s entire malaria burden and how it continues to affect people across the African continent.
"Malaria is something that millions have to deal with at some point. We know the amount of time malaria steals from our lives."
As Art Director for the Draw The Line campaign, Láolú has created a new universal, visual language on malaria made up of lines, symbols and patterns called the ‘Muundo’ - a Swahili word meaning ‘to build a movement’.
Through the ‘Muundo’ language Láolú tells a visual story on malaria and expresses the dangers and also the hope of a malaria-free world. Láolú hopes his approach and the campaign will empower young people to champion and lead the fight to making zero malaria a reality.
"There’s a lot of symbolism in the art. Look for a carefully crafted picture of a mosquito, and in the mosquito you see an X in it, because we want to stop malaria. There’s also the part where there is a triangle, we call it 'Aro meta' in Yoruba, which is balance. This is important because we have to balance our efforts and energy so we fight malaria in the right way."
"Many people don’t survive. I want the next generation to be freed from this. I want it to be a malaria-free generation for them."
Láolú has witnessed malaria many times and knows how normal life is halted once someone has the disease. School is put on hold, jobs may be lost and families suffer from medical bills and in many cases, deaths.
As someone who has suffered and recovered from malaria, he knows how important it is to end this disease to ensure every child and young person in Africa gets to achieve their dreams as he did.
"I hope the next generation will not have to experience malaria at all, period. Because, growing up in Nigeria, the amount of time it takes to treat malaria - it’s no joke. No one should go through that, young people have to miss school when they have malaria, workers miss their jobs when they have malaria, I mean you end up missing everything because you can’t do anything. Literally, you’re bed-ridden. And many people don’t survive. I want the next generation to be freed from this. I want it to be a malaria-free generation for them."
Together we can end malaria in a generation. Join Láolú and Draw The Line Against Malaria today.
Share this story on
