Sonia Deotto

Recipient of the International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Outside India - 2019.
Born and trained in Italy as a social artist, in 1999 traveled to India to research, under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on the Mandala concept, universal archetype for peace and harmony. The result of the participatory research developed with different religious communities of India and afterwards (in 2001) with indigenous people of Mexico was the OraWorldMandala (OWM), an art project to visualize the planet as a “World Mandala” and connect its different continents through creative expressions. In 2004, Sonia Deotto undertook training in Ahimsa under the guidance of Ravindra Varma, former Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith. As a research fellow she integrated Ahimsa in the art project. This was the turning point to incorporate action into the OraWorldMandala and transform it into a global movement for creative Ahimsa (non-violence).