Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan and The War Dialogues Project

PITTSBURGH

We invite you to see the American Friends Service Committee’s stunning traveling exhibit of art on Afghanistan from artists around the country.

Displayed with Windows and Mirrors will be work from The War Dialogues Project.  The War Dialogues Project is a unique project that uses art and new media to confront conflict and transcend linguistic and cultural barriers.The project brings together refugees and military veterans of the same wars to engage in multiple types of storytelling in order to promote healing and understanding. The work is creatively exhibited in order to catalyze broader community discussion about the realities present in the aftermath of war. The project aims to create visibility for invisible populations, give people the opportunity to share their stories, and to remove the control of reparations from corporations and governments.  It is currently being funded by the Sprout Fund.  (For more information about this project email wagnerjm@ivaw.org)

The exhibit will be in Pittsburgh for two weeks and during that time we have planned a number of exciting events.

The last weekend in January:

January 27, 5:00-8:00pm: Exhibit opens as part of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Gallery Crawl. Come and see not only Windows and Mirrors  and The War Dialogues Project but also Out of Rubble, featuring works by national and international artists who consider war's causes and consequences, at SPACE gallery.

January 29, 1:30pm: Disarming Words includes a gallery talk and poems at 1:30pm in SPACE gallery with curator Susanne Slavick; poetry readings by Lynn Emanuel and Terrance Hayes at 2:00; followed by a singing escort at 2:30 with the Raging Grannies to Windows and Mirrors, Reflections on the War in Afghanistan  and The War Dialgues Project at 937 Liberty Avenue, where Iraqi readers and Warrior Writers will also present poetry.

Future events include:

February 4, 6:00-9:00 pm: Women and War: Women and Peace presents testimonies by women on the impact of war and their search for peace. The evening will conclude with an improvisational performance by Pittsburgh Playback Theatre and a chance for the audience to reflect on the exhibit and the stories through the creativity of the Playback actors.

February 11, 3:00-5:00 pm: Lessons Learned in Iraq. Peter Lems, American Friends Service Committee Program Director for Iraq and Afghanistan, discusses how the lessons of troop withdrawal from Iraq can help us speed up withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Contact: Scilla Wahrhaftig 412 371 3607 swahrhaftig@afsc.org www.windowsandmirrors.org

Endorsing organizations: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Pittsburgh; Anti War Committee of the Thomas Merton Center; Roots of Promise, Code Pink; Religious Society of Friends Pittsburgh, Iraq Veterans Against the War (Chapter 61).