Integrating Art and Reflection into the Rwanda Project

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Art is a form of reflection, of making moral and spiritual sense of experience. So, it was fitting that the Rwanda Day program now moved to the Upper School Art Gallery, where students in Susanne Abrams’ classes had mounted an exhibit of their work reflecting on the Rwandan genocide. To accommodate all students, the program was repeated four times. Molly Aiken led the choir in the Rwandan National Anthem, singing one verse in Rwandan and one in English, and graphics teacher Dan Harris introduced a display of his students’ designs for cover art for one of the required books they had read, An Ordinary Man.

The gallery also featured a sculpture entitled “The Eyes That Didn’t Watch” by ninth-grader Kendall Crawford. It showed a globe wearing glasses, which, she commented, “symbolizes how the world just watched the Rwandan conflict and did nothing.” Among other images in the piece, she included a skeleton with a tutu, a comment on the Tutsis’ “dance with death and the extinction of their culture.” Another three-dimensional piece, by senior Alex Wagner, was titled “No Peace, No Rest, No Help: The Rwandan Fall, 1994.” Its subject was the personal terror of the genocide; encapsulated in plastic cups arranged in columnar form, this piece showed “a Tutsi falling after having been overthrown” and the sequence of events that unleashed. Wagner commented that it represented “both the inherent violence of a genocide and the interminable feeling of anxiety and fear the Tutsis must have felt during the 100 days of the genocide.”

A clay sculpture of a mountain gorilla by students Hudson Townes and Erin Carter represented the country's burgeoning eco-tourism industry. About half of the world's mountain gorillas reside in Rwanda. A group of three students, Merritt Perry, Carolyn Harvey and Stephanie Woody, built a fired clay sculpture of Hotel Rwanda, which was also on display.

Tenth-grader Kirsten Hicks introduced a display by the students in her Art Fundamentals class. Drawings of gaily decorated chairs formed a circle, representing the circle of community; juxtaposing this peaceful representation was a display of broken, chaotically arranged chairs, symbolizing the violence that shattered Rwanda. A third display represented the pain and healing of forgiveness.

After Father Richard Grimball read a prayer by Nelson Mandela’s daughter, sophomore Madeline Mattox read a poem she had written as a reflection on IB senior Rachel Amato’s artwork on display. Amato explained, “My IB theme for art is psychology, so I tried to convey the feelings of isolation and sorrow of the Rwandan people.” She urged her classmates powerfully, “With your help and the help of CCES alumni such as Katherine Chisholm and Allen O’Rourke, go out into the world and make it a better place.

Rwanda Day concluded with students adjourning to their advisee groups, where they were assigned to write on three well-defined topics, including the subject of “mob mentality,” a commentary on the poem “First They Came for the Jews” by Martin Niemöller, and a reflection on the day’s learning. Examples of the students’ written reflections are shown in the sidebar.

What 21st Century Education is All About
Commenting on the Rwanda Project, Upper School Assistant Director Wes Clarke had this to say, “The students were so highly engaged with the very somber topic and asked thoughtful and lucid questions of our guest speakers. From the poignancy of the documentary on the reconciliation process to the invaluable contributions of our alumni Katherine Chisholm and Allen O'Rourke to the student artwork and choir singing the Rwandan national anthem, the entire day made me proud to be a part of this community. To me, this day was what 21st century education is all about: deep inter-disciplinary investigation, global literacy, multimedia interaction, and compassion.”