Peacebuilding through the Visual Arts
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How can the visual arts be used to promote peace? Professor Mitchell investigates how the visual arts can not only incite violence, but also bear witness, reveal dangerous memories, transform violence, contribute to healing trauma and imagine more hopeful futures. Examples are taken from both current conflicts (Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine) and past wars (Paul Nash and Otto Dix in the First World War, local artists in the Iran-Iraq War and the 1984 Rwandan genocide). Professor Mitchell analyses the ambivalent role of the visual arts in building peace.
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Peacebuilding through the Visual Arts
Professor Jolyon Mitchell, FRSA
Wednesday 11 February 2026
Summary
How can the visual arts be used to promote peace? Professor Mitchell investigates how the visual arts can not only incite violence, but also bear witness, reveal dangerous memories, transform violence, contribute to healing trauma and imagine more hopeful futures. Examples are taken from both current conflicts (Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine) and past wars (e.g. Paul Nash and Otto Dix in the First World War, and the 1984 Rwandan genocide). Professor Mitchell analyses the ambivalent role of the visual arts in building peace.
Lecture Outline
Introduction
Representing Heartbreak, Grief and the Pity of War
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Art that Bears Witness
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Dangerous Memories (The Killing Churches)
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Current Conflicts
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Religious Beliefs
The Ambiguities of Bearing Witness
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Art that Transforms Violence
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On Stage
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After a Civil War
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Turning ‘Swords Into Ploughshares’
The Ambivalence of Transforming Violence
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Art that Imagines Hopeful Futures
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Painting on Walls
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Sculpting Hope
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Reaching for Peace
‘Hope is a Dangerous Thing’
Conclusions: Art that Heals and Grows Peace?
© Jolyon Mitchell 2026
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This event was on Wed, 11 Feb 2026
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