Human Rights Teen Art Contest

In partnership with the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office of Diversity & Human Rights and the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art invited youth between the ages of 12 and 18 to submit original artworks that answered the question, “What do human rights mean to you?”

The art contest is part of Salt Lake City’s Human Rights Day Celebration, an event hosted annually on December 10 to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Globally, Human Rights Day raises awareness about local and international efforts to improve human rights for all individuals. Salt Lake City’s celebration is a fundraiser for the Human Rights Education Project, a program that educates Salt Lake City’s refugees and immigrants about their legal rights and responsibilities in the U.S.

These artworks speak to human rights from the perspectives of providing education, ending violence, promoting freedoms and protections, and many others. While serving as fitting examples of each teen’s rights to the freedom of expression and to freely participate in the cultural life of their community, the artworks send messages of tolerance, friendship and love for all humans.