Artists

Angharad Williams

Press release

I can’t remember when I made the drawing, nor can I find the original, but at some point it was scanned and saved to digital storage. I’ve been describing it as a sigil - traditionally used in magic, a magical shorthand - but I rather see it as a proposition for a peace sign. Perhaps it can be both. At the beginning of the 20th century, records show that many of the pacifists and conscientious objectors in Wales lived en masse in Cardiff. They were divided by streets and by religious denomination, but they were united in their commitment to the preservation of human life and in their abhorrence of violence. Pacifism is about as personal a conviction as a person can hold. These communities were absolute in their beliefs, which were tested by the brutalities of the Second World War and every subsequent atrocity. As the world became more known to itself, these convictions were further challenged by the recognition of earlier horrors. A friend asks, “How can we be intolerant of the intolerable?” This paradox lies at the heart of principled non-violence and is a dilemma I return to. Furthermore, who has the freedom to ask these questions?