Beasts of Burden : Städtische Galerie Nordhorn
- Submitting institution
-
University of Ulster
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 89713227
- Type
- M - Exhibition
- Venue(s)
- Germany
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first exhibition
- March
- Year of first exhibition
- 2021
- URL
-
https://ulster.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/REF2021/Ea6eay2i3jNJhStth6tGjOwB3rfkypoyxCvUv1AcAQptgw?e=foEiTZ
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- Yes
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- This exhibition was scheduled for public opening on 21st November 2020 with the entire works for 'Beast of Burden' in place and featured in the Gallery website, published catalogue, exhibition signage and programme schedule for 2020. The impact of COVID-19 was publicised on the Gallery website within ongoing updates. The show was opened by appointment only during 2020/2021. The Photobook production was delayed to 10th March 2021 to coincide with the new public opening dates, confirmed by communication from the gallery director. Three pieces were exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2020.
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
C - Creative Industries Institute
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- During the Rwandan genocide of 1994, members of the Hutu ethnic majority in the east-central African nation of Rwanda murdered an estimated one million people (UN, 2012), mostly of the Tutsi minority, in just 100 days.
The genocide spread throughout the country with shocking speed and brutality, as ordinary citizens were incited to take up arms against their neighbours. 25 years after the genocide a unique initiative pairs perpetrator of the genocide with their surviving victims. They raise a calf together, in an effort to reconcile and develop a sustainable future as an integrated community. Seawright made two trips to Rwanda in 2019 and 2020 – observing reconciliation workshops and meeting perpetrators and survivors of the genocide. His portraits of paired victims and those who killed their families are paired with portraits of the animals they share. The beasts carry the weight of the past and stand as powerful metaphors for post-conflict reconciliation.
This research has been exhibited in Ireland and Germany, with selected works exhibited in USA and one photograph reaching the Zurich Portrait Photograph of the year 2020 shortlist. The 72-page photobook publication visually documents a point in time of the reconciliation process manifested through the Rwandan people and the Beasts of Burden and allows for widespread international dissemination (inc Tate Photobook collection, MPF, ICP Library New York).
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -