Civilian Art Projects - Darfur/Darfur

From October 24th to December 6, 2008, Civilian Art Projects will present DARFUR/DARFUR, a traveling exhibit of images by world-renowned photojournalists on the crisis and culture in Darfur, Sudan, curated by Leslie Thomas.

DARFUR/DARFUR includes the photography of:

Lynsey Addario
Mark Brecke
Helene Caux
Ron Haviv (VII)
James Nachtwey (VII)
Paolo Pellegrin (MAGNUM)
Ryan Spencer Reed
Michal Safdie
Brian Steidle

Projected worldwide over the past two years on facades of major cultural institutions, DARFUR/DARFUR serves as an advocacy tool, a body of evidence, and a stunning visual display on the culture and crisis in Darfur, Sudan. After viewing one of Brian Steidle’s images of a young girl shot by a Sudan government owned helicopter gunship, DARFUR/DARFUR was created in 2006 by Leslie Thomas, a mother and architect living and working in Chicago, IL. Steidle went to Darfur in 2003 as a U.S. Marine to monitor the peace with the African Union. He photographed what he saw around him: Children hit by bullets, piles of bones and bodies, and villages burning. What he witnessed is the subject of the documentary film, The Devil Came on Horseback, which will be playing in a loop in the gallery.

Civilian is honored to present DARFUR/DARFUR in support of its fiscal sponsor, the international non-governmental organization Global Grassroots. Through social entrepreneurship training and seed funding Global Grassroots helps marginalized women and genocide survivors develop their own ideas for social change. Global Grassroots works in Eastern Chad with refugees from Darfur, Sudan and with vulnerable women in Rwanda. As the charitable producer of the documentary film, The Devil Came on Horseback, and as fiscal sponsor of the DARFUR/DARFUR exhibit, Global Grassroots expands global awareness and action on the Darfur crisis.

DARFUR/DARFUR includes Brian’s photographs and the work of eight photojournalists taken in Darfur neighboring Chad from 2003 to the present. "These powerful images of family and culture under attack show us that the face of Darfur is our face – and that we have a collective, urgent responsibility to act," said Leslie Thomas, who created the exhibit to bring the story of the Darfur crisis to the attention of the public and the media.

Edited into three film loops by J. Matthew Jacob and accompanied by music from Abdel Gadir Salim, Brett Fuchs, Rasha, Khalifa Ould Eide and Dimi Mint Abba, the compelling selection of images provides a closer look at the village life, violence, military response, efforts by aid workers and the dire conditions of refugee camps in Darfur and Chad. Photographs range from blunt reportage to sensitive black and white portraits to almost formal compositions. Helene Caux, a Geneva-based photojournalist, has documented the population of a refugee camp in Chad, where 80 percent of the refugees are women and children. She has photographed the women in their brightly-colored clothing, and the moon at dusk, capturing moments of fleeting beauty in the refugee camp. Mark Brecke, a documentary filmmaker from Berkeley, has taken black and white photographs of women, children and soldiers. Paulo Pellegin/Magnum, a Newsweek photographer born in Rome, has contributed dramatic black and white photographs of refugees living in cities of tents. Legendary war photographers Ron Haviv and James Nachtwey contribute stunning imagery of life and suffering. New York Times photographer Lynsey Addario and photojournalist Michal Safdie carefully frame the lives of women and children caught in the war and aftermath, as does the stark black and white work of emerging photojournalist Ryan Spencer Reed.

DARFUR/DARFUR has been exhibited at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, the Jewish Museum in Berlin, The Holocaust Centre in Capetown, South Africa, FORMA in Milan, Italy, The Musee des Beaux-Arts in Montreal, The Field Museum in Chicago, IL, the New York Historical Society, and many other venues throughout the world. Each exhibition is a grassroots effort sponsored by the institution and many individuals throughout the world. For more information on Global Grassroots visit www.globalgrassroots.org, and for the exhibit, visit www.darfurdarfur.org.

Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace will have a conversation in the gallery about Darfur and their work to aid survivors on Friday, November 7, 2008 at 7:00pm. The event will be a benefit for Global Grassroots’ programs with a suggested donation of $25. This exhibition coincides with Tents of Hope on the National Mall November 7-9, 2008: www.tentsofhope.org. Please click the link to find out more about this international convening of Darfur activists.

October 24 - December 6, 2008 in the Front Gallery

Civilian Art Projects is proud to present Darfur/Darfur, a traveling exhibit of images on the crisis and culture in Darfur, Sudan, by world-renowned photojournalists including Lynsey Addario, Mark Brecke, Helene Caux, Ron Haviv (VII), James Nachtwey (VII), Paolo Pellegrin (MAGNUM), Ryan Spencer Reed, Michal Safdie, and Brian Steidle. Curated by Leslie Thomas.