Skip Navigation | HOME | UK Indymedia | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

West Country Features | UK Features | West Country Newswire | UK Newswire |

Artist's journey inspires powerful and moving exhibition

David Drake | 18.09.2003 12:31 | Culture | Education | World

Making Sense: A Rwanda Story is a powerful and moving exhibition that opened this week at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery and runs until 23 November 2003. Inspired by the artist Helen Wilson's visit to Rwanda in 2002, the exhibiton features large scale paintings, film, poems and music showing the beauty of Rwanda and the resilience of its people in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide that claimed one million lives in 100 days.



Artist’s Journey to Rwanda inspires powerful and moving exhibition

The artist Helen Wilson’s journey to Rwanda has inspired an important exhibition that opens this week and runs till 23 November 2003. The powerful and moving portrayal of the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda is now showing at the Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery.

In his introduction to the exhibition catalogue, the distinguished writer and correspondent Fergal Keane says: “To gaze into such a darkness as Helen Wilson has done takes a courage which most artists will never be called on to display. Her aesthetic sensibility is acute and she is a truly gifted artist. But the greatest gift she brings to these paintings is humanity. I have looked at so many images from Rwanda that I truly believed I would see nothing that could surprise me. Nor did I expect to see images which would offer some hope amid the terrible despair wrought by Genocide”.

Making Sense: A Rwandan Story is a collaborative project and exhibition, inspired by a visit the artist Helen Wilson made to Rwanda in 2002. At the heart of the exhibition are eleven large-scale paintings, which together tell a story of personal dignity, courage and survival.

Helen Wilson has been painting images of Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, which claimed the lives of over a million people in 100 days. Having now met survivors and visited the genocide sites, she has created new works that show both the beauty of Rwanda and the resilience of its people in the face of a massive human tragedy.

Helen Wilson said: “Trying to make sense of what happened in Rwanda has been at the heart of my work for nearly a decade. I want to express through this exhibition as much as possible about Rwanda as it is today - the beauty and the tragedy, and the dignity and grace of its people in the aftermath of the genocide. I am not a politician or a journalist, but I can paint. That’s my communication tool. I want to represent what I saw clearly and accurately, to offer understanding and hope for the future”.

Helen Wilson has collaborated with the poet Shiloh Harmitt, and musician/composer Richard Chadwick, who have responded to her work by creating new poems and a soundtrack to accompany the paintings.

A documentary film about Helen’s work, produced by award-winning cameraman Mike Fox and BBC director Kate Broome, will also be shown as part of the exhibition. The film features music by the Cinematic Orchestra.

The exhibition runs from 6 September – 23 November 2003 at the City Museum & Art Gallery, Queens Road, Bristol. Open daily 10am – 5pm. Tel: (0117) 922 3571. Entry is FREE.

David Drake
- e-mail: david.drake@watershed.co.uk

Download this article in pdf format >>

Email this article to someone >>

Submit an addition or make a quick comment on this article >>

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal

West Country Topics

Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
Indymedia
Migration
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

West Country Actions 2007

West Country Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

West Country Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

West Country Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

West Country Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

Languages

english

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech