The voice of art in a battle for freedom

On October 2nd, 2008, the Mirca Art Group, an international coalition of professional artists, will release their landmark collaborative effort, a book entitled Freedom & Art, to the public.

The book features 74 works of art, each accompanied by a short statement about the synergy of freedom and art in our world, and is being sold to raise funds in support of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a key political figure who has been under house arrest in Myanmar (formerly Burma) for the past 18 years over her bid for political freedom.

The project was born out of artmesh, a social media website that allows artists to network via forums and groups, similar to the way users interact on social mega-site Facebook.com.

Swedish founder Stefan Tunedal created the Mirca Art Group as a private forum within artmesh that would focus on fostering art-orientated discussions in an open, tolerant atmosphere. The Mirca Art group eventually grew to include nearly 250 artists from six continents and over thirty countries. Aung San Suu Kyi and her battle for freedom - a passion of Tunedal’s - became a rallying cause for the group and is the inspiration for the book.

After its initial release to the public in October the book will be available for sale through the official website of Amnesty International and Amazon.com. All proceeds from the sale of the book Freedom & Art will be donated to Amnesty International to support efforts being made on behalf of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's . A traveling exhibit featuring a selection of the art published in the book is also planned. It will open February 14, 2009, at the Mount Beacon Fine Arts Gallery in Beacon, NY.

By working together in the spirit of global collaboration, these artists have become a united voice of hope and pierced places where freedom has failed with the liberating power of artistic expression.

Website: www.mirca-art.com