MAKING PEACECan a photograph inspire us into action?

Ashley Woods, curator of the Making Peace exhibition thinks it can.

It's important to realize that a memorable photograph doesn't happen by itself. Firstly, a photographer chooses to press a button at the right moment. Then, an editor

decides whether to publish it or not. My hope as a curator, is that after presenting certain images to an audience they decide not to be bystanders anymore, but begin to participate actively in the world around them, promoting positive change. It's a chain reaction that can start with a single, powerful image. A photograph makes you think, and since we can visualize what took place, we believe it to be true. The “truthfulness” a photograph represents is its strongest weapon.

Many people shy away from graphic, violent imagery as it makes them uncomfortable. Yet, while we should never force anyone to view anything against their will, the truth must be told. Today, more than ever, we are subjected to sensational and violent images every day, in a mistaken belief by the media that “this is what the audience wants.” It can leave us feeling disengaged and helpless, rather than informed and empowered.

Making Peace was first produced by the International Peace Bureau (IPB), the world’s largest and oldest peace federation to mark their Nobel Peace Prize centenary in 2010. Since then, this outdoor exhibition has traveled to nine major cities and been seen by millions of ordinary people. It presents 124 photos, from an initial research of more than 10,000, that covers a century of photography – from 1914 to the present. The exhibition brings together the work of 111 photographers of all nationalities and the photographs on the following pages are a small sample of their work.

I like to call it the “Beginners guide to peace” as it allows the general public, and especially the youth, to understand better the five elements that

are crucial to forming peace. These are: disarmament and nonviolence, conflict prevention and resolution, economic and social justice, human rights, law and democracy, and the environment and sustainable development.

While you may wonder how a photograph can achieve all this, remember that many images have become iconic symbols of their time. The problem with these historic images – such as the photo of a napalmed Vietnamese girl or the raising of a flag over Iwo Jima – is that viewed on

their own they tend to reinforce people's belief that human history is only about conflict. Images have the power to elicit strong emotions and it's important to present a different story to our children: using images that inspire and reaffirm our belief in humanity. This is the aim of Making Peace.

As the last panel in the exhibition depicts (a full-sized mirror), making peace is really up to you. •

www.makingpeace.org

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THE POWER OF PICTURES

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Japanese children view the A-bomb Dome in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima, Japan. 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of both Hiroshima (6 August 1945) and Nagasaki (9 August 1945), which resulted in the combined deaths of over 200,000 people. Those who miraculously survived are referred to by the Japanese word “Hibakusha” which means "explosion-affected people." According to Tadatoshi Akiba, former Mayor of Hiroshima, "the passing on to younger generations the memories and the will of those who suffered the bombing, is the most important step for humankind to survive in the 21st century."

Just married. Twenty-three year-old Abed (Muslim groom) and 19 year-old Arige (Christian bride) walk through the bombed ruins of Beirut, Lebanon, 1983.

Richard S. Fuld Jr., Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers, testifies about the collapse of the financial institution before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Capitol Hill, as protesters from ”Code Pink” wave signs reading‚”Shame." Code Pink is a women- initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement. Washington D.C., USA, 2008.

A Mines Advisory Group (MAG) technician carefully pins a 'bounding fragmentation' (anti-personnel) mine in Zaren village. Kurdistan/ Iraq, 2003. Every year, landmines kill 15,000 to 20,000 people — most of them children, women and the elderly — and severely maim countless more. The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, referred to as the "Ottawa Convention" or "Mine Ban Treaty," seeks to end the use of anti-personnel landmines (APLs) worldwide. As of February 2013, 161 states are party to the treaty, with 36 non-signatories, including the United States, Russia, and China. SU

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Vietnam 1972. If there was one photograph that captured the horrific nature of the Vietnam war, it was the picture taken in 1972 of nine year-old Kim Phúc, running naked down a road, screaming in agony after her village in the Central Highlands of Vietnam had been sprayed with the chemical weapon napalm. Although the photographer Nick Ut helped save Phúc's life by taking her to hospital, it would take many years and several operations before she would be able to resume a normal life.

Gandhi acknowledges the cheers of young women workers outside Greenfield Mill in Darwen, Lancashire as part of his study of labour conditions in the English cotton industry. UK, 1931.

Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013). Anti-apartheid activist who became President of South Africa between 1994 - 1999, the first to be elected in a fully democratic process. Mandela served 27 years in prison. Following his release in 1990, Mandela supported reconciliation and negotiation, and led the transition towards multi-racial democracy in South Africa. One of Mandela’s primary commitments in later years was the fight against AIDS. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Kim Phúc today. Married with two children and living with her husband in Toronto. She's become a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and encourages youth worldwide to get involved in peace-making activities. The Kim Phúc Foundation provides medical and psychological assistance to child victims of war.

“It seemed that picture didn't want to let me go. At first, I was very upset. And then a wonderful thing happened. I thought, 'If I

can't escape that picture, I can work with it for peace.' I accepted it as a powerful gift.”

– Kim Phúc

"It always seems impossible until it's done"Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace laureate

(1993)

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Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Miloševic' at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, where he was accused of having committed war crimes in Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Croatia. Miloševic' died in his cell from a heart attack on 11 March 2006 before a verdict could be reached.

At the two-week Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (held twenty years after the first global environment conference held in Stockholm) the United Nations (UN) sought to help governments rethink economic development and find ways to halt the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources and pollution of the planet. It resulted in the adoption of “Agenda 21,” a 'non-binding' voluntarily implemented action plan to achieve sustainable development worldwide. The objective of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21), held in Paris (30 November – 11 December 2015) is to achieve, for the first time, a 'binding' and universal agreement on climate from all the nations of the world.

Pakistani school student and blogger Malala Yousafzai campaigned for women's right to education before being brutally shot in the head by a Taliban gunman while returning home from school on 9 October 2012. Remarkably she survived the ordeal and on 12 July 2013, Yousafzai's 16th birthday, she spoke at the United Nations (UN) to call for worldwide access to education. The UN dubbed the event "Malala Day." It was her first public speech since the attack, leading the first ever Youth Takeover of the UN, with an audience of over 500 young education advocates from around the world. In 2014 Malala was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize along with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi.

An indigenous woman and child try to resist the advance of policemen who are expelling her and some 200 other members of the Landless Movement from a privately-owned tract of land on the outskirts of Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. 2008.

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