RFE/RL’s Balkan Service
August 10, 2017

An Afghan refugee boy dubbed “Little Picasso” has exhibited his paintings and photographs in Belgrade, hoping to raise money for a Serbian child’s treatment for brain cancer.

Farhad Noory, 10, has lived in a refugee camp in the city with his parents and brothers for only eight months, but his impressive portraits of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, surrealist painter Salvador Dali, and others have already made him a local media star.

Noory’s family entered Serbia as part of a huge wave of migrants hoping to start new lives in Western Europe in recent years, but they got stuck in Belgrade after the so-called “Balkan route” was shut down last year.

The boy’s gift for art was spotted during painting workshops in Belgrade that were organized by local aid groups for refugees and migrants.

The Refugees Foundation, a local charity, said it sent him to an art school and photography workshop to help him develop his talents, and he chose to dedicate the earnings from the art he produced to a sick Serbian boy.

“We all need kindness,” Noory said.

Serbian authorities say about half of the 4,000 refugees living in Serbia are children.

With reporting by AP and AFP

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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