Swarthmore College Intercultural Center
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA 19081
USA (610) 328-7353
SPRING 2017
VISIBILITY MAGAZINE
ISSUE 02
The central theme is transforming oppressing through knowl-
edge sharing. The outer layer represents the brutality of the
mining industry, and especially the blood diamond trade in Sierra
Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other Afri-
can countries. It also represents the attempt to bury systems of
violence under a facade of nicety and economic development
-- in this case literally. The bodies in this image are humanoid,
but many of the products we dig up are the compressed remains
of previously living organisms. There are many kinds of death
involved. Diamonds represent greed... but they also represent
transformation under pressure, clarity, and the ability to cut
through the hardest substances. There is no way out of systems
of oppression by burying and ignoring the past. There is no
ground we can walk on where there are no dark secrets under
the surface. What we can do is remember the people whose sac-
rifices enabled the rest of us to go on living. We can make light
with what we have and hold our lights high so that others may
find a path or construct their own lights.
-Yona Yurwit
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