As the crisis in Ukraine continues to evolve, and millions of people continue to be affected by violence all over the world, our Friday Lunch hosted a double bill of speakers that talked on Eastern European and wider global narratives on conflict and displacement.
Professor Amy Bryzgel, Head of Cluster of Ethnology & Folklore, Film & Visual Culture and Music at the University of Aberdeen spoke about the visual culture of the Yugoslavia wars and the current war in Ukraine. Soizig Carey, Arts and Cultural Development Officer at Scottish Refugee Council talked on the council's new project Cross Borders.
Professor Amy Bryzgel – In the 1990s, the world watched as the unified socialist transnational Yugoslavia broke into nationalist factions and eventually war. War has a disproportionate impact on women in the various forms of violence and displacement they experience, and we are witnessing the same patterns occur in Ukraine today. But war also does not stop the sexualising of violence and women, or exoticizing the ‘others’ from ‘the East’. Amy took a look at the visual culture of the wars in Yugoslavia and the current war in Ukraine to try to determine what we can learn from the images on our screens.
Soizig Carey – Cross Borders is a programme formed by Scottish Refugee Council that will create a support network to help artists seeking safety in Scotland. The project aims to help people and artists who are forcibly displaced feel more at home in their local communities and play a meaningful role in shaping Scottish cultural and social life. For Friday Lunch, Soizig told us about the programme and the future plans for it.
