Rwanda Genocide Memorial Project

I was searching today for photos of war in Africa and I accidentally came across the answer to my American Literature project “Artistic Response to War’.  I clicked on a website created as a memorial; The Rwanda Genocide Memorial Project. I watched as the pictures scrolled on my computer screen and was in awe of the images.  The photography is beautiful even as they tell the story of death and the affects of war on a people group.  The memorial and the project stand alone as two other artistic responses to war in addition to the photo slideshow.

Please click on the link below to see these images, I hope they will stir your affections for innocent people whose lives have been devastated by war. 

http://rwandagenocidememorial.org/rwandan-genocide.html 

The picture below, from the websites slideshow is my favorite, it speaks volumes of the devastation war creates.

The art in the photography as well as the the art in the entire project stirred several emotions inside me. I have heard of the genocide in Rwanda. I have seen a movie about it. I even have gotten to know several people who survived the genocide, but there  is something about the photos, maybe it was the skeletons and the skulls all grouped together, some even with names etched on them; I am not sure.  As I replay the photos in my mind I can see the reality of war, the effects of war, death and destruction. These images make me angry and sad all at the same time. War seems at most times so incredibly unnecessary, but at other times unavoidable.  

 I believe the creators of this project and the photographer are calling us to action, they desire that we have a response; mine being anger and sadness, and that we do something about it. I believe that the desire in their response, the project, the memorial, the photos is for our emotional response to cause movement, to not only memorialize the victims of the genocide, but to contribute to the future of the survivors. 

My  response to this “artistic response to war” is to recognize the tragedy of war, specifically the genocide in Rwanda and to take action,  publishing this blog for at least my entire American Literature class to see.

Photos from: http://rwandagenocidememorial.org/index.html