London SE1 community website

The F Word at the Oxo Tower

Crystal Lindsay

As the visitors' book testifies, this is an exhibition to give thanks for.

In these dark, uncertain times, when tales of violence and human cost head every news bulletin, it's very good to be reminded of human values as well as the costs.

Here is something astonishing. Subjects of violence, perpetrators of violence; relatives who have lost what was precious and criminals who know they have lost something too. The testaments follow a pattern of needing to find hope again; and more: the need to understand the devastation.

"Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past.l" A bleak understanding and a profound one; and it allows the future promise.

Marion Partington, sister of Lucy who was one of Fred West's victims, talks of Rosemary West, with her own history of abuse; another, a Second World War airman, who returned to Germany fifty years later to the scene of his crew's murder, found comfort in reconciliation. The parents of Victoria Climbie see their lost child as a memory that must be honoured with appropriate grace.

Forgiveness emerges as a journey, a prayer almost, that need to be renewed again and again in order to restore the light. Don't miss.

• The F Word: Images of Forgiveness is at the.gallery@oxo in Oxo Tower Wharf until Sunday 1 February.

The SE1 website is supported by people like you
We are part of
Independent Community News Network
Email newsletter

For the latest local news and events direct to your inbox every Monday, you need our weekly email newsletter SE1 Direct.

Archive
News archive from February 1999 to January 2001
Got a story for us?
Contact us with your tip-offs and story ideas.