My zone of emergency concerns the genocide happening in Sudan.
“My work and the work of other artists has raised question that I am considering during this process while all the time remembering first and foremost the savage genocide happening in Sudan. I cry into a void when I see the images and hear the voices from the internet of a whole people being wiped off this planet. I know only one thing, I want this to stop.” - Ros Murray
“The Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias, an Arab supremacist movement, have been carrying out a horrifying campaign of ethnic cleansing against African tribes. Some 2,700 villages have been destroyed, and as a result of the violence and the related starvation and disease, some 250,000 Sudanese have died, most in 2003 and 2004, and another two million have fled to refugee camps. The Bush administration has called these atrocities a genocide.” Andrew S. Natsios, U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan in 2006-7 and Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development in 2001-6
Singing Sorrow
Initially I concentrated on the rape crisis affecting black African women and girls in Sudan. When women taking refuge in camps leave to search for necessary food or water, they run the risk of gang rape and mutilation by the Janjaweed. Amnesty International says rape is used as a weapon of war in Sudan. The Sudanese government denies this is happening or that they are involved. Women who report violent attacks risk consequences in their communities and with the law.
I wanted to sing sorrow for the plight of African women and for the black African community both Christian and Muslim who are being murdered, raped and violently wiped out. I am Irish and we have forms of traditional singing which use a lone voice to access deep feeling. Keening was also a tradition in the past, where women used voice to mourn the dead. I wanted to use my voice to acknowledge what is happening in Sudan and open up a space of awareness, mourning and possibility.
I gathered texts on the internet and many of my articles were by New York Times reporter Nicholas D. Kristof who is a voice crying out to save Sudan. I edited the texts to sing in videos which also incorporated drawing. Although the videos were powerful I felt I was trying to represent a situation I did not have first hand experience of and questioned my right to interpret the experience of Sudanese women in this way. I wanted to use a more unmediated voice.
How do I make a relevant response to the genocide happening in Sudan
Many questions have arisen for me during this process and my work has become an exploration into what it means on a personal and transpersonal level to try to make relevant work relating to a real crisis, a real zone of emergency. We live in an information age and what does that mean for us? Youtube makes it possible to see harrowing reports from Sudan and just google ‘Sudan’ or ‘rape in Sudan’ and be prepared to face the horror of what is happening as we go about our daily business. All over the world horrible things are happening but in Sudan a whole people are being systematically wiped out? In an information age are we implicated, are we responsible? What can we do with all this information?
What are the ethical issues and what does participatory artwork or artistic intervention mean? Is it effective, especially when the stakes are so high? How can I, as an outsider make a contribution to trauma I am not experiencing? Beyond that, how can I, as a concerned human being who is against genocide, make any impact in the face of governments who have chosen to ignore and be ineffective in regard to the genocide happening in Sudan for ten years? In a world where money and oil count more than life, how can my voice take up a part in that or make a difference? Do I know anywhere near enough to understand the problem? Does this matter? Can I do anything from a distance that will make one iota of difference to the people in Sudan, other than email my public representative, send money or pray? How can I use my experience in a relevant way within this work?
What can I ask of others when I am unsure what to ask of myself?
How can I ask others to participate in a situation that I feel confused and impotent in? Is it the role of the artist to patch the willful disregard for humanity shown by our governments and global business? Is highlighting or giving personal response enough or relevant? ‘Songs for Sudan’, the idea of singing sorrow for Sudan has brought up many questions, can sorrow be enough? How can I live with myself as a human being if I say nothing?
In his Zones of Emergency lecture, Ntone Edjabe raises many very pertinent issues about the use of the mysterious, poetic and inarticulate voice, the opening of creative space beyond the oppositions within conflict, the power of the imagination and the pitfalls of visualizing and voicing the invisible and the unheard in a world that concentrates on commodity. So my work and the work of other artists has raised question that I am considering during this process while all the time remembering first and foremost the savage genocide happening in Sudan. I cry into a void when I see the images and hear the voices of a whole people being wiped off this planet. I know only one thing, I want this to stop.