Drawings Highlight the Destruction of Their Villages and Life in a Refugee Camp
MEDIA ALERT August 20, 2010
For Immediate Release
Contact: Katie-Jay Scott, ktj@iactivism.org
WHAT: MY HOME: A Walk Through Children’s Memories of Darfur is a multi-media exhibit. The children’s voices, faces, and drawings tell their horrific stories. They also show the beauty and resilience of children who continue to play, learn, and grow. Against all odds, they keep dreaming and hoping for a day when they can go back home to build a stronger Darfur.
Bamboo stands and African fabrics create a path for visitors to view the children’s drawings and photographs. Sound recordings and video are played throughout the walk, engaging all the senses. At the end of the exhibit, visitors will have the opportunity to be part of the exhibit by taking a photograph with the iconic HOME image that will be added to a collage. The target number of visitors to be included in the collage is 3,477, which is the total number of Darfur villages damaged or destroyed by violence between February 2003 and December 2009.
After the exhibit launches in Los Angeles, it will begin to travel to communities across the US as a tool to raise awareness about the situation in Darfur, Sudan.
WHO: The launch of the exhibit, curated by Stop Genocide Now, is co-sponsored by Jewish World Watch.
WHEN: Sunday, September 19, 2010: Launch of the exhibit and Global Day of Action for Sudan.
11:00am-8:30pm Gallery Open, 5:00pm Reception, 6:00pm Program for Global Day of Action
WHERE: ECO-LogicalART Gallery: 4829 W Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019
WHY: “Home” evokes images of safety and comfort. Thinking of home usually brings a smile. The faces of the children of Darfur light up when they tell the story of what home used to be; they miss it. When they tell the story of what happened to their homes—on that fateful day that changed their lives forever—they become serious and even detached, their dark eyes lost in memories. Their current homes are makeshift tents in a foreign land.
The situation in Sudan is urgent: Nearly three million Darfuris living in camps face the threat of rape and aid termination; the country’s president remains wanted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide; and a return to full-scale North-South civil war looms.
Refugees have given i-ACT their drawings because they believe that if people know what they have experienced, they will act to help bring peace, protection, and justice to Sudan. Through this poignant art, MY HOME seeks to expose the Los Angeles community to the horrific memories these children have and their incredible resilience in the face of those memories, inspiring hope and instigating action to make a difference in their lives.
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i-ACT by Stop Genocide Now, based in Redondo Beach, CA, is a small, grassroots team dedicated to putting a face on the numbers of dead, dying, and displaced while creating mutually enriching relationships between those in danger and those willing and able to act. In fostering a new culture of participation, i-ACT empowers individuals within communities, institutions, and governments to take personal responsibility to act on behalf of those affected by genocide, mass atrocities, and crimes against humanity. i-ACT visits the refugee camps on the Chad-Darfur border on a regular basis. All the young artists and other children seen and heard through the MY HOME walk are friends. Visit our website at: www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact.
Jewish World Watch is a hands-on leader in the fight against genocide and mass atrocities, engaging individuals and communities to take action locally to produce powerful results globally. We meet with survivors and partners in conflict regions to develop high-impact projects that dramatically change lives. We educate our communities with facts and first-hand accounts, inspiring them to support tangible projects and advocate for policy initiatives. Our coalition continually works with other organizations to demand responsibility from world leaders and ultimately, to share our vision of a world without genocide. Visit our website at: www.jewishworldwatch.org.