Several of the sources took up the topic of “voice” in their reportage. For example, Ugandan and Canadian news media represent Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony as “breaking the silence” about their experiences. The Winnipeg Free Press, whose feature cover is visible below, characterized Acan and Amony as "outspoken." This framing falls in line with media representations of other survivors of sexual violence who are speaking out about their experiences and their needs for justice and reparations.  

The artefacts featured in the exhibit function as evidence supporting Acan's and Amony's stories. Ugandan-based New Vision, which covered the exhibit’s launch at the Uganda National Museum in December 2019, makes note of the artefacts, such as “clothes, books, and other items,” featured in the traveling exhibit. The artefacts represent the everyday and material realities of Acan and Amony before, after, and during their time in captivity, while memorializing personal, regional, and national histories. By memorializing Acan’s and Amony’s experiences and their material realities, the exhibit helps “send a universal message that the voices of women in war matters” (Acan quoted in The Independent, 2019).

Take a deeper dive. Listen to Grace Acan explain the significance of the blue sweater featured in the exhibit. 

The artefacts also provide a way for Amony and Acan to discuss having children and meeting their children’s needs while in captivity. Although “the guns are silent” and the region is considered in a post-conflict period, survivors challenge the notion that the war is over and point to the multi-generational impacts of the war within families and communities (Acan quoted in Bunting, 2019). When speaking about her daughter, whom she was separated from during a military ambush, Amony shares that “Other women in the world are still crying for their daughters […] My daughter is still missing […] I still have hope for her” (Amony quoted in Sanders, 2019).