The stories that we tell and the pictures that we paint of peace influence how we imagine, understand, promote and work towards it. The items in this ‘room’ explore different ways of representing peace in art, dance, music, film and other kinds of storytelling. We want to draw attention to long-standing habits and innovative approaches, because both can get us thinking about peace in unexpected ways. We encourage visitors to look critically at different techniques and to ask themselves how they might represent peace in different media. Above all, we want to raise awareness of the impact that storytelling can have, not only on how we visualise peace but also on how we build it and what kinds of peace we invest in. How have different representations of peace influenced the way you understand it? What narratives or representations of peace have you shared with others? And what habits of visualising peace would you be keen to encourage in future?
‘I Have a Message for Germany’: Inglourious Basterds, Retributive Justice, and Peace
Inglourious Basterds is the seventh feature film from American writer-director Quentin Tarantino. Released in…
Picturing Peace in the DRC
Award-winning photographer Hugh Kinsella Cunningham has spent the past five years in the Democratic Republic of…
Close Encounters of the Peaceful Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 film written and directed by…
Peace as Transcendence
‘Being human profoundly means to be open to the world, a world, that is,…
The shield of Achilles
Homer’s epic poem The Iliad dates from the 8th century BCE and tells the…
The Inner Peace of Mary Oliver’s Poetry
Award-winning poet Mary Oliver has published more than fifteen collections of poetry in the…
Versions of Antigone: Sophocles’ Classic Heroine as an Anti-War Symbol
Sophocles’ Antigone Written in around 441 BC, this ancient Greek tragedy has been around…
Place is the Path to Peace
How would you describe the landscape of peace? The landscape of war, propagated by…
The Plowshares Movement
The Plowshares Movement originates from a protest action which took place in Pennsylvania in…
Pockets of Peace in St Andrews
As my research on peace has developed further in the direction of taking love…
‘Could Be Laughs’: MASH, Film, and Artivism
MASH was an American TV show which ran from 1972 to 1983. It followed…
Visualizing Peace(ful Cities): The Experimental City
‘You become so attached to what you believe is the future, and a better…
Peace in Faith and Practice: Religion, Idealism and Pragmatism
What can the Quaker visualisation of peace tell us about how we view peace…
Visualizing Peace(ful Cities): THE LINE in NEOM
‘Why anyone would want to move there, and why a city should be shaped…
Peace in Faith and Practice: Mediation and Disarmament
I do not know whether Quakers have special aptitudes or skills as mediators, but…
Visualizing Peace(ful Cities): Arcosanti
Exterior and interior of Arcosanti, photos by Finn on Unsplash ‘The problem I am…
Peace in Faith and Practice: Visualising Peace as Relief from Suffering
‘Almost always there is, behind the physical need, something much less concrete, a damaged…
Screenplay: No Love Lost
This summer I went with a group of friends to a nightclub in Edinburgh….
Visualizing Peace(ful Cities): The Invisible Urbicide Project
In autumn 2022, I created the Invisible Urbicide Project to encourage a general audience…
Visualizing Peace(ful Cities): The 15-Minute City
‘I would like to offer a concept of cities that goes in the opposite…
Peace in Faith and Practice: Quakers and Conscientious Objection
‘The savage momentum of war drags us all in its wake…’ London Yearly Quaker…
Screenplay: Hyacinths
“Listen. Listen to me.” I am writing a series of screenplays, reflecting on different…
Douglas Gillespie’s ‘Path of Peace’
In 2022, Sir Anthony Seldon published The Path of Peace: Walking the Western Front…
Little Gidding
The dove descending breaks the airWith flame of incandescent terrorOf which the tongues declareThe…
A Manufactured Image/With No Philosophies: Art and Peace in Head (1968)
Trigger warning: suicide The Monkees were a hybrid acting group/rock band formed in the…
Peace in Faith and Practice: The Origins of Quaker Testimony on Peace and Non-violence
Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts….
Taking love and care seriously in classrooms
Mindfulness is the energy that allows us to look deeply at our body, feelings,…
‘Add Women and Stir?’ For the Love of Feminism, Please Put the Spoon Down!
‘Peace and security missions face a plethora of challenges today. In today’s world, the…
The Power of Comics in Peace Education
‘Āśā’, by Harris Siderfin and Maddie McCall (2022). You can download read the full…
STAR WARS: THE FINAL FRONTIER?
Discussing the Importance of Peace in Space ‘The Moon and other celestial bodies shall…
How do children visualise ‘Life after Conflict’?
Since 2013, the charity Never Such Innocence (NSI) has been giving children and young people a…
Peace is Fun!
What do you remember learning about peace as you grew up? By the time…
Dad’s Army: Pockets of Peace and Humour?
Still from Dad’s Army (1971), directed by Norman Cohen; timestamp 1.20.00-1.27.52, accessed via BoB…
Fractured Peace: a visual representation
Inspired by our discussions of different methods of visualising peace – and in particular,…
Journey: visualising peace through gaming
Fig. 1 – The Traveller in front of a statue of the past Designed…
Inner peace
‘Inner Peace’ Otilia Meden, April 2022 Peace within me, Peace surrounding me, Peace from…
Cyber peace and artivism, with Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox
Theatre of War: Techno-Colonised Planet Gouache on paper, 2022 In ‘Theatre of War: Techno-Colonised Planet’…
Woo Youngmi, Seoul Fashion Week 2018
Woo Youngmi 2019 A central theme of Seoul Fashion Week in Fall/Winter 2018 was…
Valentino’s ‘Peace Dress’
Valentino’s ‘peace dress’ on displace in front of the Augustan ‘Altar of Peace’ in…
Souvenir Official, ‘Protect Peace’
https://souvenirofficial.com/protect-peace/ Most of the items in this museum that look at fashion as a…
Intergalactic Freedom Dress
Intergalactic Freedom Dress by DRESSX and TTSWTRS The Intergalactic Freedom Dress is perhaps one…
Isha Sadhguru’s ‘Fashion for Peace’
‘Fashion for Peace’ is a collaboration between Isha Sadhguru, an Indian yoga guru, and…