NORWICH.- Seeds of Hate and Hope presents personal artistic responses to global mass atrocities, such as genocides, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Featuring work by artists including Mona Hatoum, William Kentridge, Hew Locke, Zoran Mušič, Peter Oloya, Kimberly Fulton Orozco and Indrė Šerpytytė, it explores how, throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, artists have witnessed, experienced and responded to atrocity crimes and conflicts with powerful and compelling artworks. Drawing courage and inspiration from personal experience as well as shared histories, they have reacted to these events for many reasons including but not limited to bearing witness, expressing grief and promoting healing.

With the aim of raising awareness about global conflicts and the role of art in confronting their legacy, this exhibition highlights artistic responses to such devastating events with creativity and courage. It features artworks which are reflections of, rather than images of, violence or victims; and which challenge the typical depictions of war and conflict often shown in the media.

Significant works on display include William Kentridge’s Ubu Tells the Truth (1997), which confronts the violence and injustice of apartheid in South Africa; Gideon Rubin’s Black Book (2017) which redacts every page of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, symbolically stripping the text and imagery of its intent; Ishiuchi Miyako’s photographs of everyday objects which belonged to victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Mona Hatoum’s iconic Hot Spot (2006), a reference to a world which Hatoum describes as “continually caught up in conflict and unrest”; and a series of bronze sculptures by Peter Oloya, whose experiences of violence and displacement during conflict in northern Uganda informed his love of modelling shapes and figures first in clay, and later in bronze and wood.

Through its diverse body of work, Seeds of Hate and Hope explores how both individual and collective acts of resistance and resilience often take root in times of conflict. The exhibition emphasises the vital role that human empathy and respect play in safeguarding society against the destructive forces of prejudice, hate speech, discrimination and dehumanisation. Each artwork becomes a catalyst for healing – promoting tolerance and understanding across cultures, religions and identities.

Can We Stop Killing Each Other? is the latest in an innovative series of investigative exhibition seasons by the Sainsbury Centre following its radical relaunch in 2023 to formally recognise the lifeforce of art, enabling people to build relationships with living art across its dynamic museum landscape.

Seeds of Hate and Hope joins four other exhibitions which explore Can We Stop Killing Each Other?. These are Tiaki Ora ∞ Protecting Life: Anton Forde; Eyewitness; Roots of Resilience: Tesfaye Urgessa; and The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour: Reflections on Peace. It is curated by Tafadzwa Makwabarara, Curator of Cultural Empowerment at the Sainsbury Centre and Jelena Sofronijevic, an independent curator, writer, and the producer of the EMPIRE LINES podcast, which addresses the unexpected, and often two-way, flow of empires through art.