‘ANARCHY OF SILENCE’: WINDOW EXHIBITION AT GLOBE ART POINT BY EDWINA GOLDSTONE ┃ 29.2. – 21.3. 2024

For me this work has always been about history and our seeming inability to learn from our collective past, the repeated atrocities carried out by us across time and generations, not only against our fellow man but architecture and the environment.

Anarchy of Silence was originally conceived as a site-specific work for a decommissioned military Fort on the East coast of England that aimed to examine themes of Defence and Protection. During my research preparation for the art work I explored the fundamental reasons for the establishment of the Fort looking at historical notions of civil protection and defence, which in turn led me to analyse the Geneva Conventions – established as the rules and standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in times of armed conflict.

Both the Fort and the Geneva Conventions were set up as a means of Defence and Protection and both shared parallel historical timelines in the processes of amendment owing to the changing nature of military warfare. The Fort as it stands now no longer serves its original purpose and I wish to beg the same question of the Geneva Conventions.

The work carries a simple strong message…History Repeats! And our blindness to history makes us repeat our mistakes over and over again.

By drawing comparisons of both past and present highlights our own personal responsibility and associated implications of world frailty and vulnerability. Our silence which is merely disguised as stupidity, makes us accomplices, because we do nothing.

A gentle reminder of what are considered Grave breaches of the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions:

• wilful killing, torture or inhumane treatment, including biological experiments
• wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health
• compelling a protected person to serve in the armed forces of a hostile power
• wilfully depriving a protected person of the right to a fair trial if accused of a war crime.

Also considered grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention are the following:

• taking of hostages
• extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly
• unlawful deportation, transfer, or confinement.

Now PLEASE take a moment to think! How many recent and current global events are in breach of these rules and what is being done?

Very little protects us from our own ignorance and stupidity. What will it take for us to wake up and take responsibility for our own actions?

For more information about this work: www.edwinagoldst.one.