How to forgive, yourself or someone who has hurt you, is a difficult question to answer. Searching the term in Google will present you with numerous articles offering tips on how to forgive. Forgiveness is something that needs to come from you, and the way you are able to reach a place of forgiveness might be very different to how others do so.
A free exhibition taking place in March 2017 could help you find the path to forgiveness you are looking for.
“You could say my revenge for the murder of my mother is my forgiveness because it has given me strength. I don’t forgive on behalf of my mother but for the pain that was inflicted on me for the loss of my mother,” says Jude Whyte, one of the exhibition storytellers, whose mother was killed in a bomb blast outside the family home in Belfast in 1984.
Jude Whyte: “Forgiveness was for me both a pragmatic decision and an emotional feeling – it had nothing to do with religion.”
(photo credit Katalin Karolyi)
13 years after the launch of the original internationally acclaimed F Word exhibition at gallery@oxo, UK charity The Forgiveness Project is returning to the same London gallery to showcase their latest compelling exhibition.
The Forgiveness Project works with real stories of forgiveness, empathy and compassion in order to build understanding, encourage reflection and enable people to reconcile with their own pain and move forward in their lives. The F Word: stories that transform exhibition, from 8 – 12 March 2017, uses personal narratives to examine alternatives to cycles of conflict, violence, crime and injustice.
Open daily from 11am to 6pm at the gallery@oxo in Oxo Tower Wharf (Bargehouse St, London SE1 9PH), the redesigned exhibition will form part of a mini festival of forgiveness on the South Bank.
In addition to the free exhibition, visitors will have the chance to experience more of The Forgiveness Project’s humanising stories and meet some of the charity’s storytellers through its programme of themed events that showcase the various programmes supported by the charity’s work.
“Forgiveness is really nothing more than an act of self-healing and self-empowerment. I call it a miracle medicine. It is free, it works and has no side effects,” says Eva Kor, one of the exhibition storytellers, who – aged 10 – was taken to Auschwitz with her twin sister where Dr Josef Mengele used them for medical experiments. Both survived, but Miriam died in 1993 when she developed cancer of the bladder as a consequence of the experiments done to her as a child.
Eva Kor: “Forgiveness is as personal as chemotherapy – I do it for myself.” (photo credit Grant Stapleton)
The programme of events includes:
- DAILY: The new F Word exhibition: a dynamic and challenging exploration of forgiveness through real life stories. Framed around four key questions, this reenergised display includes a more interactive design than the inaugural exhibition, launched at the same gallery 13 years ago.
- DAILY: The premiere of five short documentaries produced by Resight Films. These intimate films explore the journeys of some of the charity’s storytellers and the transformative power of forgiveness.
- THURS 9 MARCH (11am – 2pm): Meet the storytellers: Engage in conversations with The Forgiveness Project storytellers who work in prison and find out why they tell their story, how it impacts those who hear it and how telling their story has changed them. The conversations will be run using the principles of the Human Library which provide a positive framework for dialogue that can challenge stereotypes and prejudices. Suitable for anyone working in prisons, storytelling and education as well as those with a general interest.
- SAT 11 MARCH (11am – 1pm): Restorative Circle: Up to 15 participants will be invited to join a Restorative Circle under the theme of: How can we use our story to transform anger and pain? The circle process is used throughout the world to strengthen communities and enhance communication, and this circle will explore how to shift our perspective around unresolved issues. £12 / £8 concs – BOOK HERE.
- SUN 12 MARCH (11am onwards): Films of Forgiveness: A diverse mix of short films and feature presentations with the full programme to be released shortly. The day features the first ever screening of a film made by the charity documenting a restorative justice (RJ) conference. Filmed in HMP Featherstone, the film features an extraordinary account of how RJ introduced an element of humanity into a situation which had dehumanised both attacker and victim.
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