Professor Matt Christensen's Presentation at the Art About the Sierra Leone Civil War Conference

Professor Matt Christensen presents at the Representations of Violence: Art About the Sierra Leone Civil War Conference held at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Representations of Violence: Art About the Sierra Leone Civil War is a display of 38 paintings and drawings documenting Sierra Leone’s decade long civil war. From 1991 to 2001, the people of Sierra Leone endured a brutal civil war ignored by most of the world. Thousands of innocents, especially children and babies, suffered horrific amputations, rape, mutilation and death. Over 50,000 people died in a conflict invisible to a world community distracted by war in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Some people were fortunate to leave Sierra Leone in time. They fled to England, Canada and the United States for refuge and asylum. Today Sierra Leone is calm, some of its citizens are returning home, but the peace is fragile. The people of Sierra Leone are exhausted from a decade of torture and conflict. They struggle each day to support and feed themselves and rebuild their beloved country.
As the people of Sierra Leone struggle to find peace with their neighbors and reconcile their past with their present and future, they are finding their strength and courage in the images and words of their national artists, writers and poets. The process of reclaiming and continuing their lives is slow and painful, but it is a necessary journey to take if a nation of more than five million people is to understand and move beyond the senseless brutality of eleven long years.
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Edited by Annie Carlson, United Nations Online Volunteer