An exploration into the darkest side of humanity and its expression through art and culture.
Can We Stop Killing Each Other? wrestles with the darkest side of humanity. It explores the fundamental question of why humans are led to kill, examining the artworks, films, video games and television programs that grapple with and manifest themes of death and destruction.
Using material culture linked to moments of extreme violence, such as the Holocaust and the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, this publication offers a challenging but eye-opening consideration of some of the most horrifying events in human history as explored through art.
Using historical and contemporary art as a lens to explore these themes, the book will include a new interview with Ethiopian artist Tesfaye Urgessa (b.1983), who creates emotive paintings reflecting on the refugee crisis. It will also explore the role of art as sanctuary from violence, through new approaches to the work of Claude Monet (1840–1926)
Foreword
Jago Cooper
6
Can We Stop Killing Each Other?
Tania Moore
12
1. Art as Life and Death
Jago Cooper and Tania Moore
16
2. The Art of Violence
Joanna Bourke
24
3. A Grim Fascination: Watching Others Kill
Vanessa Tothill
36
4. Papare Eighty.one as an Expression of Mana
Michael Steedman
48
5. Caught Between Worlds: Painting Across Boundaries
Tesfaye Urgessa in conversation with John Kenneth Paranada
56
6. Art as Sanctuary: Reflections on Claude Monet
Elizabeth Elliott
68
Acknowledgements
70
Author Biographies
73
Picture Credits
78
Notes
79
Index
84
Tafadzwa Nomphanelo Makwabarara is a Zimbabwean-born curator currently based at the Sainsbury Centre. She is the newly appointed Curator of Cultural Empowerment, focusing on encouraging critical thinking, cooperation and collaboration on universal contemporary issues through the inclusion and re-engagement of minority and marginalised groups in society. At the Sainsbury Centre, Tafadzwa has curated Heroin Falls as part of the Why Do We Take Drugs? season and been project curator on The Camera Never Lies: Challenging Images from The Incite Project for What Is Truth?Tafadzwa previously worked for the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe as Curator of Monuments where she oversaw 53 cultural heritage sites across four provinces, with responsibility for the management, conservation, preservation and restoration of monuments throughout Zimbabwes northern region for nine years. During that time, she also collaborated with several African artists and cultural groups during exhibitions and festivals. One such collaboration was with the Magamba Network to partner in hosting the Shoko Festiva, Zimbabwes biggest festival of urban culture combining arts, new media and civic activism. Tania Moore is Head of Exhibitions at the Sainsbury Centre where she has implemented a programme that tackles the most urgent questions facing society. She has curated Darwin in Paradise Camp: Yuki Kihara for Can the Seas Survive Us?; Lindsey Mendick: Hot Mess for Why Do We Take Drugs?; and In Event of Moon Disaster, Liquid Gender, and Jeffrey Gibson: no simple word for time for What is Truth? Publications include Can the Seas Survive Us? (2024), What Is Truth? (2024); Rhythm and Geometry: Constructivist Art in Britain Since 1951 (2021); and Henry Moore: Friendships and Legacies (2020). In 2019, she received the New Collecting Award from the Art Fund to acquire sculptors drawings by contemporary women and non-binary artists for the Sainsbury Centre collection.
