On Wednesday, 3 December 2025, Belgian artist and activist Pierre Mertens launched the Covers for the World project. In Moshi, he connects art with accessible care and equal partnership. With an exhibition curated by Edith Doove, the project’s launch coincided with the opening of Child-Help International’s SHARE Global Knowledge Centre for Accessible Care in Moshi. From there, the idea is that Covers for the World continues to develop in both the Global South and the Global North.
The exhibition at SHARE runs until 31 March 2026.
Decolonisation in art and care
An important pillar of the project is the decolonial reinterpretation of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Pierre Mertens created a first version of this as part of the East African Biennale in 2008 with Ricardo Brey (Cu), Willo Gonissen and Mulugeta Tafesse (Et). For Covers of the World, a new version was created entirely by Tanzanian artists Prince John Hugo, Lightness Jonas, David Valerian Mlay and Lilian Munuo. With this, the project aims to launch itself as a global art initiative that addresses decolonisation in both art and healthcare. In addition, Belgian photographer Daniil Zozulya shows a selection of photos from a project on spina bifida and hydrocephalus in Uganda and also documented the new project.
As founder of Child-Help, Pierre Mertens has been working for decades to give children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus in the Global South the same access to surgery, continence care and dignity as in the Global North. His art and activism are intertwined: as part of the Covers for the World project, he is bringing more than 4,000 of his drawings, made daily since 2014, to the art market, with his entire share going to the new knowledge centre in Moshi.
Interview with Lightness Jonas
Photo reportage by Daniil Zozulya (1)
Photo reportage by Daniil Zozulya (2)
Exhibition texts by Edith Doove (ENG-SWA)
