University Artist Fellow exhibition highlights tragedy of people missing due to conflict
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:09
University Artist Fellow exhibition highlights tragedy of people missing due to conflict
Skip to main content
University Artist Fellow exhibition highlights tragedy of people missing due to conflict
Art, policy and testimony combine at the Swiss Embassy in London to highlight the human cost of disappearance.
Press release
Published on Wednesday 22 April 2026
Last updated on Thursday 23 April 2026
View more announcements in Communications
Members of the University of Bath delegation including Artist Fellow Chantal Meza (right) with Dominique Paravicini, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom (front row, left)
Powerful new artworks by the University of Bath’s
Artistic Engagement and Impact Research Fellow Chantal Meza
have been displayed at the Swiss Embassy in London, in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the British Red Cross.
Titled
Absence
, the exhibition highlighted the humanitarian, emotional and generational toll of people going missing due to armed conflict and violence, those forced to flee for safety, and the importance of the protection of civilians through international humanitarian law.
Ten artworks were on display, complemented by policy discussions and testimony from experts and individuals affected by disappearances.
Talks were given by high-profile figures including Morris Tidball-Binz, the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial summary or arbitrary executions, and representatives from the ICRC, British Red Cross, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs.
Chantal Meza
said: “The staggering number of people going missing in today’s conflict underscores the urgent need to highlight and discuss this issue. The concern for the missing should touch us all.
“While art will never bring a loved one back, it helps speak to what is unspeakable and reminds us that when a person is missing or disappeared, we are talking about a human life who is often someone’s entire world.
“My hope is that through art, I can contribute to highlighting this issue, and to the discussion around how we respond to, and prevent disappearance.”
Professor Brad Evans, Director for the Centre for the Study of Violence at the University of Bath
, said: “This event is compelling example of what’s possible when art, policy and academia are brought together. It has been an honour to work with the Embassy of Switzerland in London, the International Committee of the Red Cross and British Red Cross on the urgent and pressing concern with those who are missing.
“It is humbling to know that the work we have been doing at the University of Bath is resonating and changing how we might respond to disappearance in the 21st Century”.
Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom Dominique Paravicini
said: “It was a privilege to work with the University of Bath, ICRC, and British Red Cross to convene powerful voices of testimony and advocacy at the Embassy.
“Platforms for dialogue, networks of expertise, and institutional memory sustain us through challenging periods, which is why Geneva’s multilateral forums, and collaborations like these, matter more than ever.”
Philip Spoerri, ICRC Head of Regional Delegation for the UK & Ireland
, said: “In 2025, the ICRC recorded over 178,300 new cases of missing persons - the sharpest rise in at least twenty years. Behind each one is a family living in anguish and uncertainty, with a right to know what happened to their loved one.
“This is not just a moral imperative but a legal duty: under international humanitarian law, states and parties to conflict must prevent people from going missing and account for those who do. This is also critical to achieving lasting peace and reconciliation. The ICRC, together with the wider Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, works to help restore family links and provide answers for families with missing loved ones.”
“It has been a privilege to collaborate with the University of Bath and Chantal Meza to bring attention to this important issue.”
This event builds on the
University of Bath and Chantal Meza’s work to highlight the plight of the missing and disappeared through art
. Her
State of Disappearance exhibition of 73 artworks is on permanent display in the University’s Chancellor’s Building
and has been integrated into a number of teaching programmes.
Professor Phil Taylor, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bath
, added: “We are proud to be working with Chantal Meza to highlight the important and pressing issue of people affected by disappearance related to conflict.
“Art can facilitate and inspire conversations about complex and challenging issues, and we hope this exhibition will provide our university community with thought-provoking material as part of our broad curriculum.”
Prof Brad Evans added: “This event was made possible following an initial visit by and ICRC and British Red Cross delegation to look at the State of Disappearance exhibition on campus last year.
“What was clear during that visit was a willingness to work together to see how we might reimagine our response to the missing and the disappeared. We very much see this as the start of an ongoing process of dialogue and collaboration in which the University of Bath plays a key role.”
Swiss Embassy hosts Absence exhibition
Media enquiries
Will McManus
wem25@bath.ac.uk
+44 (0)1225 385798
Media Centre
Find information for journalists, bloggers and online commentators
Share
Read about the State of Disappearance exhibition on campus
Skip to main content
University Artist Fellow exhibition highlights tragedy of people missing due to conflict
Art, policy and testimony combine at the Swiss Embassy in London to highlight the human cost of disappearance.
Press release
Published on Wednesday 22 April 2026
Last updated on Thursday 23 April 2026
View more announcements in Communications
Members of the University of Bath delegation including Artist Fellow Chantal Meza (right) with Dominique Paravicini, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom (front row, left)
Powerful new artworks by the University of Bath’s
Artistic Engagement and Impact Research Fellow Chantal Meza
have been displayed at the Swiss Embassy in London, in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the British Red Cross.
Titled
Absence
, the exhibition highlighted the humanitarian, emotional and generational toll of people going missing due to armed conflict and violence, those forced to flee for safety, and the importance of the protection of civilians through international humanitarian law.
Ten artworks were on display, complemented by policy discussions and testimony from experts and individuals affected by disappearances.
Talks were given by high-profile figures including Morris Tidball-Binz, the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial summary or arbitrary executions, and representatives from the ICRC, British Red Cross, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs.
Chantal Meza
said: “The staggering number of people going missing in today’s conflict underscores the urgent need to highlight and discuss this issue. The concern for the missing should touch us all.
“While art will never bring a loved one back, it helps speak to what is unspeakable and reminds us that when a person is missing or disappeared, we are talking about a human life who is often someone’s entire world.
“My hope is that through art, I can contribute to highlighting this issue, and to the discussion around how we respond to, and prevent disappearance.”
Professor Brad Evans, Director for the Centre for the Study of Violence at the University of Bath
, said: “This event is compelling example of what’s possible when art, policy and academia are brought together. It has been an honour to work with the Embassy of Switzerland in London, the International Committee of the Red Cross and British Red Cross on the urgent and pressing concern with those who are missing.
“It is humbling to know that the work we have been doing at the University of Bath is resonating and changing how we might respond to disappearance in the 21st Century”.
Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom Dominique Paravicini
said: “It was a privilege to work with the University of Bath, ICRC, and British Red Cross to convene powerful voices of testimony and advocacy at the Embassy.
“Platforms for dialogue, networks of expertise, and institutional memory sustain us through challenging periods, which is why Geneva’s multilateral forums, and collaborations like these, matter more than ever.”
Philip Spoerri, ICRC Head of Regional Delegation for the UK & Ireland
, said: “In 2025, the ICRC recorded over 178,300 new cases of missing persons - the sharpest rise in at least twenty years. Behind each one is a family living in anguish and uncertainty, with a right to know what happened to their loved one.
“This is not just a moral imperative but a legal duty: under international humanitarian law, states and parties to conflict must prevent people from going missing and account for those who do. This is also critical to achieving lasting peace and reconciliation. The ICRC, together with the wider Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, works to help restore family links and provide answers for families with missing loved ones.”
“It has been a privilege to collaborate with the University of Bath and Chantal Meza to bring attention to this important issue.”
This event builds on the
University of Bath and Chantal Meza’s work to highlight the plight of the missing and disappeared through art
. Her
State of Disappearance exhibition of 73 artworks is on permanent display in the University’s Chancellor’s Building
and has been integrated into a number of teaching programmes.
Professor Phil Taylor, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bath
, added: “We are proud to be working with Chantal Meza to highlight the important and pressing issue of people affected by disappearance related to conflict.
“Art can facilitate and inspire conversations about complex and challenging issues, and we hope this exhibition will provide our university community with thought-provoking material as part of our broad curriculum.”
Prof Brad Evans added: “This event was made possible following an initial visit by and ICRC and British Red Cross delegation to look at the State of Disappearance exhibition on campus last year.
“What was clear during that visit was a willingness to work together to see how we might reimagine our response to the missing and the disappeared. We very much see this as the start of an ongoing process of dialogue and collaboration in which the University of Bath plays a key role.”
Swiss Embassy hosts Absence exhibition
Media enquiries
Will McManus
wem25@bath.ac.uk
+44 (0)1225 385798
Media Centre
Find information for journalists, bloggers and online commentators
Share
Read about the State of Disappearance exhibition on campus