Voices: An Exhibition of Darfuri Children’s Drawings
June 18–July 24, 2009
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A Darfuri child's illustrated answer to, “What is your strongest
memory?”
In cooperation with Waging Peace, the AIGA National Design
Center presents a selection of drawings by Darfuri children
depicting vivid memories of violent attacks.
In 2007, Waging Peace researcher Anna Schmitt conducted a
three-week mission in Eastern Chad to assess the humanitarian,
human rights and security situation in the region and to collect
testimonies from Darfuri refugees and displaced Chadians.
While collecting testimonies from adults, women told Anna how
their children had witnessed horrendous events when their villages
were being attacked, prompting Anna to talk to the children. She
gave the children aged 6 to 18 paper and pencils and asked them
what their dreams were for the future and what their strongest
memory was.
When the children handed Anna their drawings, she was shocked to
see the details of their memories of the attacks. While a handful
of children had submitted drawings of daily life in the village or
in the refugee camp, the majority of the drawings described the
attacks on their village by Sudanese Government forces and their
allied Janjaweed militia.
The 500 drawings collected by Waging Peace amount to a form of
criminal evidence from silent witnesses. The killings, bombing and
looting shown in the drawings directly contradict the Government of
Sudan's version of events over the last four years.
In November 2007, the drawings were accepted by the
International Criminal Court as contextual evidence of the crimes
committed in Darfur, and as such they will be used in the trials of
the accused, as a graphic illustration of the atrocities. These
visual records serve as testament to the power of visual
communication.
About Waging Peace
Waging Peace campaigns against genocide and systematic human
rights abuses. The organization has a particular focus on Africa,
on atrocities overlooked by the international community and where
minorities have been persecuted on racial or religious
grounds.
www.wagingpeace.info