The Exodus is a pamphlet visualizing the patterns of genocide using five 20th century genocides as case studies: Armenian Genocide, Ukrainian Genocide, Jewish Genocide, Cambodian Genocide, and the Rwandan Genocide.
I compiled this data into a visual narrative, combining several voices of victims of genocide, to create a louder symphonic voice that would be heard by the greater global audience.
I started by visualizing the data from each genocide by taking apart the timeline of the genocides and comparing and contrasting each section: beginning, middle, end.
Each part of the timeline shares similar characteristics leading up to the moment of genocide. This is illuminating because it enables the global community to recognize which environmental circumstances cause genocide to be allowed. It also shows that this persecution, of intentional annihilation, is common and systemic. It does not occur one time in history to one people group. It occurs against many people groups at any time in the world.
The human face is pieced together from faces of various ethnic groups. The pamphlet is split into two parts "Victims of Genocide" and "Perpetrators of Genocide." Parts of the face are used to tell the story of why a person was a victim or a perpetrator.
For example the NOSE on the victim side represents the fact that people in genocides are killed simply for what they look like. In the example of the Rwandan genocide, Tutsis were killed because they were regarded as more beautiful and taller.
The MOUTH on the perpetrators side represents the experience where people were forced to lie about the killings in order for them to continue. In the example of the Ukrainian genocide, doctors were forced not to disclose data that the people were dying of starvation so that no other country would stop Stalin from starving his people.
I discovered that there are typically five stages that are pre-genocidal conditions. Here, each of the five genocides are broken up into each stage and compared to one another through historical occurrences.
A brief synopsis of each of the five genocides in study is given.
A visual illustration of the eight stages of genocide written by Gregory Stanton in 1996.
thank you for viewing!
