Description
This paper challenges the “illusion of seclusion” of peace processes. It argues that we tend to view violence as locally contained, therefore ignoring its pluri-local origins and asking those at the receiving end of violence to compensate for the failures of powerful institutions to confront their own complicity. Drawing on examples from South Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland, the paper demonstrates the extent to which such narratives of isolation have been challenged by diverse art projects. It shows how politically engaged artists have developed ways of engaging with the legacies of violence to cast light on their pluri-local dimensions and therefore play an important (albeit subtle) role in the respective peace process.
