Object of the Fortnight 10/04/2014- Liberian Brass Cross

The Museum has had plenty of changes recently. Behind the scenes, the Museum welcomed Shannen Lang (education and collections intern).

On the gallery floor, it has all hands on deck last week to redisplay the popular Margaret Glover exhibition and to install a display called Sierra Leone: Building peace after war (both showing until the end of May).

The Sierra Leone display is a collaboration between the Peace Museum UK, the Peace Museum Sierra Leone and the University of Leeds. It explores how the civil war in Sierra Leone affected the lives of children and looks at reconciliation and peace education after the war. Images for the exhibition were kindly provided by organisations and individuals, such as a photograph taken by Teun Voeten.

This photograph shows schoolchildren in front of a poster promoting peace. Teun took this photograph while on an assignment in Sierra Leone during the war. The Peace Museum UK has exhibited objects from the collections reflecting other African nations that have been affected by civil war and conflict. 

Permission kindly given to use image. © Teun Voeten http://www.teunvoeten.com/index.html

One object is a brass cross made from spent bullet cases. This cross was crafted by George Togba. George is an ex-rebel from Liberia. Liberia’s civil war, between 1989 and 1996, resulted in 200,000 Liberians being killed and one million were displaced. George is now a Christian peace activist who now makes peace symbols out of spent bullet and shell casings. Other objects include our Rwandan peace basket, a tie depicting the Biafran flag and a badges supporting Rhodesia’s independence.