Peace is possible says Desmond Tutu

Cape Town-141012-Nobel Peace laureat Archbishop Emiritus Desmond Tutu at the Cape Town Grand Parade to inspect a giant artwork, a picture of a broken AK47, on the paving. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams

Cape Town-141012-Nobel Peace laureat Archbishop Emiritus Desmond Tutu at the Cape Town Grand Parade to inspect a giant artwork, a picture of a broken AK47, on the paving. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams

Published Oct 13, 2014

Share

Lisa Isaacs

A HUGE painting of an AK-47 – snapped in two – across the paving slabs of the Grand Parade is a reminder that war and violence will not have the last word, says Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

“This shows us all that peace is possible,”

he said at the official unveiling yesterday of the painting, Resistance, executed in wheat paste over 100m of paving.

The work, by artist Ralph Ziman, is aimed at highlighting the global arms trade.

It shows a pair of hands breaking in two an AK-47 wrapped in several world currencies. The painting is a take on the logo of War Resisters International, an organisation working for peace.

Tutu was joined at the unveiling by Ziman, anti-arms activist Terry Crawford-Browne and a small crowd.

Tutu walked across the art work, still drying, and said it was a “fantastic undertaking”.

“Peace and co-operation and working together and holding hands – these are the things that ultimately matter in our world,” he said.

“With all that’s happening in Sudan and Syria, when God looks at us and the things we are doing, it is just awful. But this art work is a signal of hope. It shows there is sunshine behind the clouds.”

The installation was initially planned to coincide with the World Summit Nobel Peace Laureate in Cape Town which was shelved when the government refused to grant the Dalai Lama a visa.

The painting includes the Dalai Lama’s face.

[email protected]

Related Topics: