Imagining Together!

If there is one recurring image when we speak of peace, it is the white dove. The origins of this association can be traced back to the Judaeo-Christian tradition, more precisely to the story of Noah and the Flood in the Book of Genesis. The dove returns to the ark carrying an olive branch, signifying the promise of salvation in a renewed world. Over time, the dove has transcended its biblical setting to become a universal emblem of peace and reconciliation. The artist Pablo Picasso played a key role in popularising the white dove as a symbol of peace. In 1949, with the wounds of the Second World War still raw, Picasso presented a lithograph of a dove at the World Peace Congress in Paris. The image of Picasso’s dove spread rapidly, evolving into a globally recognised symbol and used in numerous pacifist demonstrations and events up to the present day.In this space, we wish to draw attention to one dove in particular: the carrier dove, which throughout history has connected people and places, creating networks of communication across diverse worlds. It will accompany us on a journey that seeks to explore peace beyond any single or universal vision, and instead bring us closer to plural forms of peace.

‍Questions the Dove Asks

On the concept of peace
‍Which peace am I? What are my colours?
I wonder if I have the right shape.I think my problem is to imagine peace as an absolute.
Politicians speak of peace, yet all I see are weapons.
What if I began to speak with people about their everyday practices of peace?
I think I shall seek out new horizons.Peace must be something other than pacification through arms.
Perhaps, in order to speak of peace, we must question the social structures that produce violence and the discourses of hatred
that sustain it.
Let us build together a new grammar of peace!

‍On memory

‍I advocate for shedding light on the memories made invisible by war and conflict.
Bringing memories into resonance, allowing them to speak to one another – is this a way of building peace?
I admire those who fight to make their voices heard.
What if we were to explore together situated practices of remembrance?
Song can be a way of remembering.Celebration allows memory to remain alive.

‍On migratory trajectories

‍I wonder what people who migrate do to cope with uprooting.
What practices do migrants develop to remember their home?
How do they name what compelled them to leave?