AFGHANS MEMORIALIZED IN ART
Traveling mural art exhibit opens in Los Angeles on February 19, 2011
Los Angeles (Feb. 2) – A national tour of mural art memorializing Afghan civilian casualties will be displayed in Los Angeles on Feb. 19. Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan opens at the Social and Public Art Resource Center in Venice, CA. The exhibit opens after recent reports of Afghan civilian deaths reaching a record high of over 2,500 last year.
Windows and Mirrors is a collaboration of more than 40 artists from around the world, including U.S. students. Forty-five, 4-foot by 6-foot panels, each uniquely designed by an artist or group of artists, comprise one large exhibit display memorializing Afghan civilian casualties. The exhibit is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization dedicated to peace and nonviolence.
The exhibit also includes images collected from Afghan high school students by Dr. Zahir Wahab, a professor at Lewis and Clark College who asked young Afghans to draw images from their daily reality. “The impact of the war on the Afghan people,” says Dr. Wahab, “has been lost in public and political discourse in the United States. So we’ll use art.”
“It is the hope of the AFSC that visitors – including students - to Windows and Mirrors will join us in the nationwide dialogue about the war and how we can move toward positive alternatives,” says Anthony Marsh, Tour Director of Windows and Mirrors in Los Angeles. “We hope that each person who visits will take a moment to reflect on the human impact of the war on the Afghan people.”
Windows and Mirrors will run through March 13, and then continue on to Greensboro, North Carolina through April 15, 2011. Other scheduled cities include: Chicago, Atlanta, Kansas City, San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Providence. To view images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45386997@N05/sets/72157625795266447/