Lino etching: Emily Johns
Displayed during Peace News’ The World is My Country exhibition in November at Hastings Arts Forum, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex. It is one of the occasional pictures that I have made of my family history and how my personal stories intersect with the century of war. My grandmother survived the fascism and famine of the Second World War in Budapest, Hungary; the words in this lino etching are the words that my father said she put up as a poster when the war ended. We all carry pictures inside ourselves that shape our lives. Some of these pictures are in history books and some pictures are carried in families. Often these family pictures are invisible to the world, often invisible to ourselves. By noticing the ripples of war that exist inside us across time, continents and generations maybe we can change the picture to a sea of peace.