Artists to demonstrate horrors of war

SHOPPERS in Galway will today come face-to-face with the impact war will have on ordinary Iraqi citizens, as artists and anti-war activists unite in a novel awareness campaign.

Members of the Galway Alliance Against War (GAAW), and two local artists, will position themselves in popular shopping areas of the city, erecting street installations aimed at showing the impact war will have on everyday citizens in Iraq.

Two local artists, Paraic Breathnach and Owen McCarthy, have designed life-size shadows of people painted over with a target, each one representing an Iraqi citizen.

Each targeted shadow will carry an enlarged Iraqi ID card bearing the real names and details of people in Iraq. “The Iraqi people are nothing other than sitting ducks for US and British missiles.

“In the war trade they are called collateral damage, but they are human just like us, with their families and friends, their loves, their hopes, and their fears,” said GAAW chairman John Cunningham.

Mr Cunningham criticised the Government saying that it had failed to act responsibly over the possible war in Iraq.

“With regard to Shannon they have been dishonest with the people and allowed the airport to be used against the spirit of our neutrality ” he said.

Paraic Breathnach, one of the visual artists who designed the street installations urged the Government to take a strong stand and defend Ireland’s neutrality.