Date: 17 November (Exhibition launch and reception from 1730-1900) until 20 December
Location: Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC)
Those affected by violence and conflict voice their experiences in many different ways – and not just in words or writings. This part of the Series focused on exploring the non-verbal production of conflict knowledge through an exhibition and series of activities and workshops.
The exhibition focused 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 consisted of textiles from the international Conflict Textiles collection and the exhibition was curated by Roberta Bacic, with assistance from Breege Doherty.
The aim of the exhibition was to challenge visitor understandings of what conflict ‘looks like’ and how it should be explained and explored – picking-up a theme running throughout the Series. The exhibition brought together a selection of powerful and unique wall hangings and quilts. These had 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.
The exhibition was launched on 17 November 2017 at 1730 and will run until 1200 on 20 December 2017.
The exhibition was accompanied by a series of events and workshops:
a. 17 November 2017, 1500-1700: Seminar 6: Knowing conflict through textiles.
This small workshop will explored the question: ‘how can arts and crafts contribute to our understanding of violent conflict, injustice and international politics?’
Speakers included:
- Roberta Bacic, Northern Ireland, curator of the Conflict Textiles collection
- Jimena Pardo, London Mexico Solidarity, arpillerista and political activist
- Christine Andrä, Dr Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Lydia Cole and Danielle House, Aberystwyth University, Department of International Politics; commissioning team of Stitched Voices Aberystwyth
Read more information on this workshop
b. 17 November 2017, 1730-1900: Exhibition launch and reception.
Read more information on the launch
c. 22 November 2017, 1730-1900: Film showing and discussion: Breaking the silence: Gender and genocide – showcasing the work of Remembering Srebrenica
This event, led by Louis Monroy Santander, a PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham, was focused around a short documentary film by Remembering Srebrenica (Breaking the Silence) which explores three important cross-cutting themes in the exploration of conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Gender and genocide; women’s courage and seeking truth and justice.
Read more information on this film and discussion
d. 6 December 2017, 1730-1900: Photography workshop: “Bozambique”: Where healing meets resilience – looking at non-judicial transitional justice through photographs
This event, led by Samara Guimaraes and Louis Monroy Santander, PhD researchers at the University of Birmingham, sought to highlight practices of indigenous trauma-healing in Mozambique and of
remembrance in Bosnia-Herzegovina to understand processes for dealing with past violence through non-judicial mechanisms. This photographic exhibition and discussion presented two different contexts of post-war reconstruction, presenting the opportunities and dilemmas for doing a creative engagement with processes to deal with the aftermath of human rights violations.
For more information on the exhibition please visit the Conflict Textiles website or follow us @StitchedVoices