10 Ways We See Peace

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Olive Branch

Ancient Greece

As Poseidon struck his trident to claim the ownership of Attica, Athena responded by planting an oil tree. The olive tree became a sign of prosperity and abundance.

Vase Painting, Ancient Greece

Ancient Rome

With its succession, the olive branch was also commonplace in ancient Roman culture. There are records of defeated generals extending an olive branch after defeat, as well as olive branches being a common motif on coins. In Roman mythology, it was one of the symbols of the goddess Pax (Latin for peace) as well as that of the lesser-known aspect of Mars, Mars the bringer of Peace.

Ancient roman coin

Renaissance

The olive branch could’ve been then relegated to the dustbin of history. Yet, The Renaissance brought back many symbols of antiquity en vogue, the olive branch included.

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, Marcus Gheeraerts

Pallas and the Centaur, Sandro Botticelli

Today

Today the olive branch unequivocally means peace and is often used in the flags and logos of organizations striving for peace.

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Olympic Truce

The winners of the ancient Olympic Games were crowned with wreaths of wild olive trees. During the games, the Olympic Truce (ekecheiria) was observed — in time of warring city-states, this celebration of life and athleticism was sacred.

Northern and southern koreans marching together at 2000 olympics

Northern and southern koreans marching together at 2018 olympics

The Olympic Truce was revived in 1992. The truce goes beyond temporarily ceasing hostilities — its mission is “to harness the power of sport to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation more broadly”.

Logo of the olympic truce

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Dove

I stand for life against death;

I stand for peace against war.

— Pablo Picasso, 1950, Peace Congress in Sheffield

As ubiquitous of a symbol as the olive trees, we’ve come to see doves as an embodiment of peace. Pure and innocent creatures that symbolize everything that is life — the sacred symbol of Aphrodite is often let out to flutter at weddings. Kamadeva, the god of love in Hindu mythology, is often depicted riding a dove.

Blue Dove of Peace, 1950s

Dove of Peace, 1949

In Genesis, the dove appears to Noah after the flood as the harbinger of peace, and in the New Testament dove represents Holy Spirit.

Pablo Picasso’s Dove was chosen as the symbol for the World Peace Congress in 1949. His father bred pigeons (rock doves) and had taught young Pablo how to draw them. Since then, birds appeared throughout his body of work, from Child with a Dove, 1901 all the way to The Pigeons, 1957. The peace dove and The Pigeons were both inspired by Matisse and his exotic pigeons, and Picasso’s fourth child was named Paloma (Spanish for dove).

La Colombe, 1961

Henri Matisse, 1947

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Hiroshima and Nagasaki

A clock from Hiroshima stopped at 08:15 AM

Peace Memorial Ceremonies are held annually at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6th and 9th respectively. Both culminate with the release of doves.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki stand out as some of the most heinous singular acts of the bloody 20th century. The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb museum invites us to stroll through the remnants of past Japan militarism followed by the horrific consequences of military actions. The exhibition ends with appeals for the abolition of nuclear armaments.

Hiroshima mon Amour, movie posters

Hiroshima mon amour (1959) shows how we deal with events such as these. Shot mere 14 years after the war, it portrays a French actress arriving at Hiroshima to shoot an anti-war movie, and her brief affair with a Japanese man. One of the most significant post-war movies, it shows time shattered, and the difficulty of trying to comprehend and deal with the unthinkable atrocities that we live with. The passage of time and eventual closure and/or numbness feels like a betrayal — yet, it is inevitable.

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Posters

Presented with no commentary.

V. Bunakov, 1985, Better to be active today than radioactive tomorrow

T. Trepkowski, 1952, Nie

L Schneider, 1967, War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things

Unknown author, 1977, Soviet Union is a key to peace and friendship

H Hijikata, 1968, No More Hiroshimas

P Popov, V Marchenko, N Klimov, 1970s, Peaceful sky — to you, to us, to everyone!

J Lennon and Y Ono, 1969, war is over! if you want it

Avant garde magazine, 1967, No more war

R. Sawyer, 1979, Ban the neutron bomb

P Debenham, 1984, No. No nukes. No tests

Unknown author, 1970, Day of continental support for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (Cuban anti-Vietnam War poster)

A Lovely, 2010s, Hold Hands

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Christmas Truce

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Even amid cruelty, we seek humanity in fellow men. While no official ceasefire was issued, on Christmas Eve 1914, British and German soldiers began singing carols to each other over the trenches.

On Christmas day itself. German soldiers walked through the barbed-wired “no man’s land” unarmed. When the British realized this wasn’t a trick, they came out of the trenches as well. Hands were shaken, cigarettes exchanged, songs sang. The celebration peaked with a game of soccer.

Eventually the English brought a soccer ball from their trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued. How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.

— German Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch of the 134 Saxons Infantry

In 2014, on the 100th anniversary of the truce, the English and German national soccer teams staged a friendly match (England won).

A German and British Soldier Share a Cigarette During The Christmas Truce of 1914

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Guernica, 1937

Picasso’s Guernica, with its subdued tones and deliberate matte finish, stands 11 feet tall and 25 feet across, and looms over the viewer with its captivating vision of suffering. Following the German bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica, all Picasso could do is read about it in the papers. Read and paint.

The resulting artwork is frenetic and fractured, full of agony in every direction; screams, flames, death. Yet, at the center of the piece is a small dove, next to the light shining through. There’s still hope.

Picasso had decided that the mural would come to his homeland of Spain only after the country would become democratic and have free elections. He did not live to see his wish — the first democratic election of Spain was held in 1977, while Picasso died in 1973.

Unknown author, 1970s, Stop the War in Vietnam Now!

C. Elle, People Protesting Using Guernica details

Today, Guernica remains a powerful anti-war symbol. The parts of the artwork were brandished during the protests against the Vietnam war, the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war, and more.

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Flower Power

“[...] exemplary spectacle... outside the war psychology”

— Allen Ginsberg, 1965

March on the Pentagon, October 21, 1967

While sanitized and dismissed over the years, the hippie movement grew out of common and popular sentiment: the war in Vietnam must stop. Preceded by such towering figures as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, the hippies stared in the face of viciousness and opposed it with non-violet methods.

March on the Pentagon, October 21, 1967, Marc Riboud

In 1967, over a hundred thousand people — hippies, activists, and regular office workers alike — marched to peacefully protest against the war. This protest resulted in the iconic imagery of guns being disarmed with flowers.

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Peace Sign

The common peace sign, which is now firmly associated with hippies as well, means more than the generic doves and branches. Nuclear disarmament remains relevant as long as nuclear weapons exist.

In 1958, Gerald Holtom designed this sign as a logo for British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The sign consists of semaphore signals for N and D superimposed on one another, standing for Nuclear Disarmament.

Sketch of Nuclear Disarmament Symbol by Gerald Holtom, 1958

It also references The Third of May 1808 by Francisco de Goya, which shows a man with his hands outstretched in front of a firing squad.

The Third of May 1808, Francisco de Goya, 1814

“I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad”

Later, Holtom had said that he wished that the widespread version of the symbol would be inverted — to celebrate peace, rather than brace yourself for despair.

Haight Street, Jim Marshall, 1960s

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Songs of Peace

Thousands of East Germans listened to David Bowie perform on the other side of the Berlin Wall in June 1987

David Bowie Sing 'Heroes' at the Berlin Wall in 1987

In 1987, just two years before the fall of the wall, David Bowie had performed in West Berlin close enough to the border that many Eastern Berliners heard the show and sang along.

We kind of heard that a few of the East Berliners might actually get the chance to hear the thing, but we didn’t realize in what numbers they would. And there were thousands on the other side that had come close to the wall. So it was like a double concert where the wall was the division. And we would hear them cheering and singing along from the other side. God, even now I get choked up. It was breaking my heart. I’d never done anything like that in my life, and I guess I never will again.

— Bowie said of the performance

Despite the bleak and self-defeating lyrics, we see Heroes as an anthem of peace and freedom. If just for one day. From Imagine and Give Peace a Chance to 2 Minutes to Midnight and War (What Is It Good For?), from All Along The Watchtower and Holiday In Cambodia to Bulls on Parade and Killing In The Name, to B.O.B. and B.Y.O.B, there’s so much music devoted to keeping the world together, rather than apart. It’s probably the most common theme for a song (after love). All everyone wants is clear blue sky.