‘Little Picasso’ draws up plan to aid ill boy

BELGRADE, Serbia — A 10-year-old migrant from Afghanistan, who has been nicknamed “Little Picasso,” is using his first exhibition to help another boy in need.

Farhad Nouri’s drawings and photographs were on display last week in what was also his charity event to raise money for a Serbian boy recovering from brain tumor surgery.

“Thank you all for coming here!” Nouri told visitors as he opened the exhibition organized with the help of aid groups and supported by Serbia’s government.

Among Nouri’s works exhibited in the garden of a cafe were his drawings of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Harry Potter.

Nouri’s photographs mostly include scenes from Belgrade, where the boy and his family have been living for the past eight months in a crowded migrant camp.

The family is among several thousand migrants who have been stranded in Serbia after fleeing war and poverty in their homelands. They have been unable to move on toward the European Union, which has sought to curb the influx of migrants.

Ivan Miskovic, from the Serbian government’s refugee agency, said at the opening of Nouri’s exhibition that children account for about 40 percent of 4,500 migrants currently in Serbia.

Nouri and his family left their home in Afghanistan two years ago. Upon his arrival in Serbia, Nouri joined art classes organized by aid groups, and his talent soon became a sensation, turning him into a local celebrity.

Anita Milev, from the Refugee Foundation group, explained that the charity money for the sick boy is being raised through donations and by selling Nouri’s photographs and copies of his drawings.

“We all need kindness,” Nouri said.

OLIVER BUNIC/GETTY-AFP Farhad Nouri, a migrant from Afghanistan, looks to help a Siberian boy recovering from brain surgery with proceeds from his artwork at a exhibition Wednesday in Belgrade.