23 February 2008
Why it was needed
An exhibtion for Holocaust Memorial Day.
'Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'
For most of us the Holocaust happened before we were around but that is not a reason to forget. Still genocide is happening today across our world, it seems many people are unaware of this or the reasons why these atrocities happen.
My aim was to raise awareness of genocide not just by simply stating that genocide occurs but by looking at many aspects to it including the root causes of genocide. An art exhibition I thought would be appropriate as it would get a lot of people involved and seriously thinking about this subject matter and seeing artists responses to genocide would hopefully get others thinking and acting.
What's being done
The hardest part of the organising the exhibition was getting the artists to participate. They were daunted by the subject matter and thought they could not do it justice. We had to reassure them that the premise was to get artists that were not connected to the holocaust going through the thought process of thinking about genocide from there point of view and therefore making it easier for people to relate to. After spreading the word we soon had about 18 artists which was great cos we were worried about filling the space. Funding was pretty simple with the help of Catie from junction 49. The venue was also fantastic because we had the freedom to do what we wanted. There were a few times where the exhibition nearly got cancelled, we wondered if all this effort would really make a difference. It took a lot of time to organise both mentally and literally but I really enjoyed doing it so was not to much trouble.
How it started
Overall I think it went well. We had a variety of art work and each piece spoke thoughtfully of different aspects of genocide. On our opening event where a Holocaust survivior talked we had over 70 people turn up. We were in the evening post twice. My highlight was after the opening event someone rang me up and said how moved they were with everything and how they really want to get involved with raising awarness about genocide. This doesn't seem like much but thats usually the way it is out of every lot of people there are only a few that will take action. Also one of the paintings i found particulary powerful. Putting on the exhibition made me think a lot more. Genocide is a over powering word, it made me think about personal human suffering and the prejudices that lead to genocide among other things. On a personal note it led me a little nearer to knowing what i want to do in the future.
Did we make a difference? I don't think anything like this is going to make a huge different on it's own but I think it did raise awareness to some people and that is a start, things grow. We got a group of people involved with the exhibition that is now helping us with events we intend to hold in the future.
More
Some comments from the exhibition...
'One world, one people, we are one nation.'
'For those we never knew.'
'For all the people that humanity as a whole has not remembered.'
'Every ethnicity is special, one race, the human race.'
'It could have been me.'
'May the mistakes of our past never be forgotten.'
'We need love, we need respect, we nedd education.'
'Powerful, thought provoking, poetic.'