Inspirational Creative Practice: The Work of Artists after War and Violent Conflict (INSPIRE) is an ongoing project running from 2020 to 2025, examining the impact of artists and creative endeavours during and following violent conflicts. It investigates the motivations behind those involved in creative practices and how their artistic expressions galvanise others toward social justice. This initiative presents inspiration as a novel and significant area of ethnographic research by exploring the connections between artists, art, and activism amid and after wars. It looks into local and transnational creative practices in the aftermath of conflicts in Sudan and Myanmar, while also investigating artists and activists in exile across four European countries. The project has its own website: INSPIRE.
The project is hosted by the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO) and connected to the PRIO Centre on Culture and Violent Conflict (CCC). Research professor Katarzyna Grabska leads the project and is joined by research professor Cindy Horst, senior researcher Marte Nilsen, doctoral researcher Trude Stapnes and research assistant Sara Christophersen.
Working with artists in Myanmar and Sudan, and exiled artists in four European countries (France, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland), we explore what motivates those engaged in creative practice and how artistic expressions inspire others into action for social justice.
