00:00So Hamur House is an Expo 2020 project, an art project, and it's a community art initiative.
00:20It talks to our main theme of connecting minds and creating the future.
00:24It brings together the community to create an art piece that speaks about one of our main sub-themes, which is sustainability.
00:35So we're talking about marine life.
00:39Hamur is a fish that is very popular in the Arabian seas, and Hamur lives in the coral reefs of the Arabian Sea.
00:50With climate, with the environmental changes and the impact of global warming, these corals are endangered.
01:02So obviously, what we're trying to raise awareness of is the ecosystem.
01:07So through an art project that involves students, school students creating artwork, art teachers during the Expo having some workshops,
01:22artists doing some workshops, musical performances, talks on the environment.
01:30So knitting drop-in workshops, so you have the opportunity to drop in and knit some beautiful marine species.
01:43We are trying to create an awareness of the seas.
01:47We're trying to create an awareness that really we have a responsibility towards the environment.
01:54Expo is about finding solutions to a better world, raising awareness to help us live in a healthier, better, cleaner world.
02:05So engaging the community through a creative project is really bringing an opportunity to all of us towards safeguarding our environment.
02:54Well, we both love music a lot, so for us to have the chance to play at an Expo event was really something for us.
03:02And the pieces are really famous pieces as well. It was a joy to play them, and knowing that it was for the Expo too made it far better.
03:08It was also an honour to play for His Highness the Sheikh when he came in, because he expressed how much he liked the music, and that was an honour.
03:17Music, almost everybody knows, is a universal language. Everybody listens to music on the radio at home.
03:23So to have access to that medium to communicate the importance of sustainability, because we all live in the same world, is really effective, and it's nice to see the change happening.
03:31Music is also, it's like a blank canvas to convey what you want to convey.
03:36So you can, it's like how an artist uses a paintbrush, we use our instruments to convey the same thing.
03:46So I play the saxophone, which is normally made from recycled brass. It depends on what I believe mine is.
03:53And all the mouthpieces are also made of plastic and last for years.
03:56And musical instruments are built to last for 10-15 years. So there's a very little wastage happening in the musical industry.
04:03Yeah, musical instruments aren't something that you cycle through very quickly.
04:06Like my flute is nickel-plated, and all flutes are essentially completely comprised of metal.
04:14I think it all started with a conversation that we had with our school program.
04:19And it really started with the children, and with wanting to connect the children to a bigger cause.
04:25When we talk about the environment and provide an experience that really focuses on the future of our sustainability.
04:32I'm very passionate about corals because I was a scuba diver, and I was a marine biologist when I first graduated, and I served the sector for a few years.
04:42So even though I'm in the arts and culture now, and I'm a visual artist myself, the environment and corals specifically are very close to my heart.
04:50I also want to really celebrate the community and really celebrate our lovely knitting artists who are with us today, and the children that are with us today.
04:59I think Dubai has a very vibrant life within the community, those hidden gems that have a lot of talent and a lot of things to say through the arts.
05:08So Expo 2020 is bringing the world together in Dubai.
05:14So over the six-month period, the 1st of October, in less than two weeks, we will welcome the world, and we have over 200 participants.
05:25So this is the first ever World Expo that's truly bringing a world gathering together here over a six-month period.
05:35It's a platform for the world to come and address these issues, the global issues, the global challenges.
05:45But through a creative approach, we're able to more powerfully bring across our messages.
05:53And really, it's a joint effort from the world to try and help create a better environment.
06:03I think with arts, the arts move all of us in different ways.
06:10So when you are communicating with your heart and with your soul, that is the way you truly are able to express yourself and also move and act in a way that is truly meaningful.
06:31And I think it's a very true way of being able to take action.
06:40So the arts, it is a universal language that we all can understand, and it is a language through which we can communicate no matter where we're from.
06:53We will have music performances over the six months.
06:57We also have knitting workshops over the six months.
07:02You can drop in and you can knit.
07:05As you know, knitting is a very therapeutic activity we have for the very young children.
07:10They can knit without any needles.
07:12And we're basically dressing up some skips.
07:17So DOLSKO, our partner in the project, is providing us with these big skips, and we are dressing up the skips with marine life and bringing it to life.
07:30We also have some workshops where people can bring to life coral structures.
07:38And basically the community is able to become an artist at Expo and showcase their artwork at Expo and be part of the creative community.
07:51We have teacher-led workshops.
07:55We will have some talks.
07:59It's basically dropping in and being able to become an artist, whether you want to do it for five minutes or for a few hours.
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