Press Release: "How can we live together?" STAND Exhibition Launched

New exhibition featuring renowned war photo journalists' work asks "How can we live together?" as STAND Global Solidarity Festival launches in Dublin 

Exhibition features the voices of young people from conflict and post-conflict settings as well as  from peaceful regions worldwide; last year viewed by more than 18,000 people 

Dublin, 21st September 2026 —  On the International Day of Peace, STAND launched its exhibition "How Can We Live Together? Reflections on Peace" at University College Dublin. The exhibition features work by Ron Haviv, Stephen Ferry, Paula Bronstein, Jack Picone and more.  

The launch opened the STAND Global Solidarity Festival, which will tour Irish campuses this autumn and into spring 2027. It forms part of SDG Week, and the exhibition returns after being viewed by more than 18,000 people last year. 

“Peace is not something that happened somewhere else, or a long time ago. It is something people build every day, in communities, on campuses and in conversations,” said Susie Spratt, STAND Festival Manager. “This exhibition explores what it takes to build peace, politically and personally. It showcases extraordinary historical examples of peacebuilding but also reflects on the voices of students from around the world, who considered what burdens they had inherited from previous generations and how these might be overcome.” 

The exhibition explores extraordinary examples of peacebuilding from Rwanda, Colombia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland drawing on photography and journalism from The VII Foundation’s Imagine: Reflections on Peace. Rather than presenting peace as settled history, it asks what living together actually requires, of governments and of communities, at a moment when that question could hardly be more current. 

The launch began with a ribbon cutting and featured several guest speakers, including Professor Vincent Durac and Tasman Crowe, Vice President for Sustainability at UCD. Guests also heard music from cellist Henry Bushnell and Palestinian artist Aziz Abushark, who played the traditional qanun, and visited an information booth on the festival and the STAND Global Issues Courses.

The exhibition will tour third-level campuses across Ireland this autumn alongside the festival, which incorporates student society events and STAND's Global Issues Courses. STAND has also developed the Imagine: Reflections on Peace toolkit for academic staff, supporting the integration of the exhibition's themes into third-level teaching nationally. 

This autumn, the Global Issues Courses will explore the same theme. These part-time certified courses for students and graduates look at peace and reconciliation through workshops led by expert facilitators, with case studies from Ireland, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Colombia and Palestine. The Global Issues Course is a natural next step for students who want to go deeper into the exhibition themes. They run at UCD for six weeks from 29 September and at TU Dublin for five weeks from 7 October, and are free to attend. Details are at stand.ie/what-we-do/global-issues-courses. 

Exhibition dates 

• 21 to 25 September: UCD 
• 28 September to 2 October: TU Dublin 
• 5 to 9 October: UL 
• 2 to 6 November: DCU 
• 9 to 13 November: IADT