THE BODY AS A BATTLEFIELD

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Crossroads Ethiopia

The 2018 Peace Prize Exhibition opened in Addis Ababa

Nobel Calling

PODCAST:

LISTEN TO THE LECTURE ON THIS YEAR´S PEACE PRIZE

Lecture by the Chair of the Nobel Committee Berit Reiss-Andersen about The Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.

Half a papaya, with a knife driven clean through its core. Tiny toy soldiers on a naked back. The images, which make up the exhibition “The Body as a Battlefield”, illustrates the barbarity that lies behind this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war since the dawn of time. Systematic rape, violent sexual assault and sexual slavery are used to spread fear, reward soldiers or exterminate entire religious and ethnic minorities.

–The violence itself is in many cases so overwhelming that it’s hard to convey sufficiently through the documentary genre, explains Cristina de Middel, the photographer behind this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition. Instead, she portrays the topic of sexual violence in conflict and war in a series of staged photographs taken in Nigeria in 2018 using local volunteers.

Cristina de Middel has spent time with both Nobel Peace Prize laureates; Dr Denis Mukwege, the Congolese surgeon who has helped reconstruct the shattered bodies of thousands of victims of sexual violence, and Nadia Murad, a member of Iraq’s Yazidi minority and a survivor of sexual violence and slavery. Held captive by ISIS, she managed to escape after three months of enslavement. Mukwege was photographed in the hospital he runs in DR Congo, along with some of the thousands of women he has treated. Nadia was photographed in Paris, France, between meetings with government officials and world leaders. Since her escape from Iraq, she has devoted her life to telling her story in the hope helping those still in captivity.

Visitors to this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition get the chance to become involved in the struggle to end the use of sexual violence in war. Visitors can sign an appeal urging Norway’s Higher Prosecuting Authorities to bring the perpetrators of such war crimes to justice. The appeals will be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

This Exhibition has been made possible in collaboration with Norad.

As soon as a new Peace Prize laureate is annouced, we start the updating of our permanent exhibitions. At first in the 

, often named “the heart of the Nobel Peace Center”. Here, all laureates are presented on their own screen, surrounded by thousand small lights. Designer David Small is behind the concept, together with architect David Adjaye. He says the ambiance in the room is more important than the technology.

 are filled with information, photos, texts, videos and animations about the Peace Prize laureates’ life and work. On five large screens, you may navigate your way through facts about the Peace Prize laureates. When the Nobel Peace Center opens to the public the morning after the announcement, photos and articles about the new laureate are on display. The audience can read more about Abiy Ahmed Ali and Ethiopias ongoing process towards peace and democracy. More than 2,800 other articles and 1,500 images, videos and animations can be retrieved and explored.

Among those who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize since 1901, are some of the most significant figures in our recent history. True to their ideals, but at the same time focused on dialogue and collaboration, and of doing mankind good. Laureates like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Fridtjof Nansen, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Albert Schweitzer and Alva Myrdal all contribute to making the Nobel Peace Prize the world’s most prestigious prize.

In his testament from 1895 Alfred Nobel instructs the executors of the will to give the Peace Prize “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.In 

 on our second level, you will find the magic book about Alfred Nobel’s fascinating life. Here, his experiences and inventions come to life. The book is in itself an adventure, and provide the visitors with a reading session very much out of the ordinary.

Crossroads Ethiopia

THE BODY AS A BATTLEFIELD

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THE BODY AS A BATTLEFIELD

Guided Tours