Event Details
'The day we will never forget', Collective work by Killarney girls, facilitated by Shari Eppel, Solidarity Peace Trust Zimbabwe. (Photo: Shari Eppel) |
| Exhibition and associated activities: | Stitched Voices: Knowing conflict through textiles |
| Description: | This exhibition focuses on textile narratives of struggles against violence, injustice, oppression and forgetting; from Chile, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, England, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria, Spain, Colombia and Germany. The core of the exhibition consists of textiles from the international Conflict Textiles collection.
It is an adaptation of Stitched Voices / Lleisiau wedi eu Pwytho exhibited at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth University, Wales, 25th March - 13th May 2017. It forms part of a broader Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project which explores the different ways in which knowledge about peace, conflict and insecurity is produced. The exhibition is part of an ESRC Seminar Series (2016-2018) on knowledge production in/on peace and conflict.
The aim of this exhibition, which is facilitated by Dr Jonathan Fisher, Louis Monory Santander, Samara Guimarães, Juany Murphy and colleagues from the International Development Department, is to challenge visitor understandings of what conflict ‘looks like’ and how it should be explained and explored. Those affected by violence, conflict, oppression and injustice voice their experiences in many different ways – and not just in words or writings. This exhibition brings together a selection of powerful and unique wall hangings and quilts. These have been hand-stitched and crafted by a range of people and communities who use textiles as a language to articulate their experiences of loss, solidarity and resilience in the face of human rights violations and insecurity.
Web Links:
International Development Department, College of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham
The exhibition launch takes place at 5.30pm, Friday 17th November, Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) Centre.
Associated events programme:
17 November
15.00-17.00: Scholarly workshop (invitation only)
17.30-1900: Launch
22 Nov, BVSC
17.30-19.00: Breaking the Silence: Gender and Genocide – showcasing the work of Remembering Srebrenica.
06 Dec, BVSC
17.30-19.00: ‘Bozambique’: Where healing meets remembrance – looking at non-judicial transitional justice through photographs. |
| Commissioned by: | University of Birmingham and the ESRC, International Development Department |
| Date(s): | 17th November 2017 - 20th December 2017 |
| Venue: | Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) Centre
BVSC Centre: 138 Digbeth, Birmingham B5 6DR (7 mins walk from Birmingham New Street Station) |
| Curator: | Roberta Bacic, assisted by Breege Doherty |
| Facilitator: | Dr Jonathan Fisher and colleagues from the International Development Department |
| Outcome: | The exhibition, which was accompanied by a range of events including guided tours, film screenings, workshops and other activities led by local artists and activists, raised awareness of experiences of violence, conflict, oppression and injustice and encouraged visitors to reflect on the broader meaning and significance of the items displayed.
Sixty five people attended the exhibition launch and workshops, with some attending all three events. Given that the exhibition was located in a public space adjacent to training rooms, the BVSC estimates that between 900 – 1000 were exposed to the exhibition during their coffee and lunch breaks. |
| Documents: |
• list of textiles: Birmingham 2017 - view
• Planning meeting, Birmingham, October 2017 - view
• Exhibition launch invitation - 17th Nov 2017 - view
• Associated events - Background information - view
• Exhibition leaflet - Birmingham, Nov 2017 - view
• Postcards (4) - Birmingham, Nov 2017 - view
• Bookmark - Birmingham, Nov 2017 - view
• Launch and workshop report - 17th Nov - view
• Breaking the Silence - Srebrenica, 22nd Nov - view
• Exhibition catalogue - Birmingham, Nov 2017 - view
• 'Bozambique' - Slide presentation, 6th Dec - view
• ‘Bozambique’ report, 6th Dec, 2017 - view
• End of exhibition report - Jan 2018 - view
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