| A Leeds photo exhibition to raise awareness for the Control Arms campaign which is calling on governments to tighten up controls on the arms trade.
Shattered Lives: Shattered dreams is an exhibition at the Royal Armouries in Leeds featuring photographic portraits of hundreds of faces from people who support the Control Arms campaign, as part of the Million Faces petition. It focuses on individuals who have experienced the deadly impact of the illegal use of weapons first-hand, via live interpretations by actors and an interactive art installation that has been put together by a local volunteer artist.
Volunteers have been gathering the photo portraits since the start of the year – including Leeds born stars such as Corinne Bailey Ray and Chumbawumba (both pictured). ‘The volunteers who have put this exhibition together have been fantastic,' said Ben Margolis, regional campaigns officer for Oxfam in Yorkshire. 'They have really brought home to the people of Leeds the devastating impact of weapons around the world and the need for effective controls.’
Leeds band Chumbawumba said: ‘We can see only too easily how the uncontrolled trade in weaponry plays a significant part in the inequality, suffering and murder of people around the world. It's our opinion that anyone with any sense of justice, anyone wanting a less self-destructive world, has to join campaigns such as this and try to share an anger at the way the UN countries — and our government in particular — are trading in war.’
Shattered Lives: Shattered Dreams will be open to the public from Thursday 18 May for 3 months at the Royal Armouries, Leeds. It is open from 10am-5pm seven days a week and anyone can go along and add their face to the exhibition in support of the campaign, admission is free.
For more information about the exhibition please contact Ben Margolis in the Leeds based Oxfam Campaigns office on bmargolis@oxfam.org.uk
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