Millions of lives are lost annually in Africa to Malaria, a disease easily preventable by nighttime use of a simple mosquito net.  This event and installation was intended to be the spark in fueling this push to provide assistance to the United Nations, raise global awareness, and directly save lives with fundraising from a global audience.
The UNF approached AWA Lighting Designers to craft this installation and design the nets to be used and mass produced in Korea in order to make a great push to produce and move the nets to Africa.  This great challenge is a continuing effort to devote AWA’s creative skills toward generating awareness and solutions for social activism.
The focal design content and form of the installation is inspired by an African Village.  It positions participants within “a night in Africa” where a small village unites to engage in its rich local community.   Attendees wander through a “village” composed of individual homes represented by a net sculpture, and gather around the illuminated, central “hearth” of the installation.   The nets will be partnered with the medium of light to create an illuminated, sculptural work of art.  The nets will be translated into a sculptural form and integrated in to a simple architectural structure representative of the individual family huts in the African village.  Key “personalities”, such as the “cocoon” and the protective “shield”, will be represented in lights to communicate the sentiment towards the nets felt by the users.  A large-format screen will flash images of the community members benefitting from use of the nets, as well as beautiful scenes from Africa.  This visual display will not only communicate the large-scale life-saving power of the nets, but also the individualized and unique feelings towards the nets felt by individuals in villages using them. The emotional response and experience that this installation will offer will drive a deeper motivation to act and donate among this great cause.