CORRECTION APPENDED (SEE BOTTOM)Brandeis students should be familiar by now with Sudan-related demonstrations and projects. "Leave the Bones and Catch the Land: Southern Sudanese Art from Kakuma Refugee Camp," however, goes beyond the usual displays of activism students might find on campus. The exhibit, which consists of paintings made by Southern Sudanese refugees living in the largest refugee camp in the world is the result of a semester's worth of collaboration between Brandeis students and local Sudanese immigrants.

The exhibit, dedicated to Todd Hardigan, the late member of the LTS instructional technology team, began as a project in Prof. Mark Auslander's (ANTH) Fall 2006 class, "Museums and Public Memory." A few of the paintings were displayed in the Slosberg Theater in October. According to Auslander, his students put so much work into the exhibit that they chose not to abandon it after the October show closed. After being granted space in Goldfarb Library, the class created a Web site, audio tour (available on iPods located at the library's front desk) and exhibit. Auslander held many classes in the library, where students would agonize over how the paintings should be displayed.

The exhibit begins on the library's first floor with a large, colorful painting of a Sudanese wedding procession by Jacob Lueth Achol, chosen for its positive message and eye-catching design. A few more nostalgic paintings of Sudanese life follow, after which are hung several paintings of life at Kakuma, including the painting from which the show takes its title-"Victim of War," by Peter Majuol Maketh. "Leave the bones and catch the land" is a Sudanese saying that means one should abandon painful memories of loss, instead dedicating oneself to life and living. The final painting on the wall depicts refugees leaving Kakuma and waving goodbye.

According to Auslander, this was among the class' favorite paintings and for good reason: After so many dark paintings about the terrible strife encountered by the Sudanese, who had to walk for weeks and months to reach the camp, the goodbye painting, titled "Bye, Bye, Time to Go Home," by James Aguer Garang lifts the viewer's spirit considerably with its childlike colors and form.

The second floor's paintings have a different focus. Down the stairs and to the left, toward Farber, the paintings are spread throughout the library, with easels directing viewers to each installment, a few of them relating to prophecy and spirituality. One of these, "Scent of Freedom," (by Atem Aleu) shows small, crouched figures representing times of oppression, next to a standing figure. The title of the painting refers to the hope the refugees had that they would one day be free from their oppressors. The other paintings on this wall echo similar sentiments.

The last installment of the show, located on the third floor next to Farber, consists of two rows of paintings, radiating out in either direction from a painting of a Sudanese prophet believed by some to have predicted the civil war that has raged in Sudan since 1983. These paintings treat some of the most serious subjects in the exhibit, including hunger, AIDS and the breakup of families during the escape from Sudan.

Located in a display box in front of the paintings on Goldfarb 3 is a large cloth with brightly colored embroidered animals and other forms. The cloth was sewn by the mother of one of the students in class. Auslander says the woman worked on the cloth over the many years she was separated from her daughter, with whom she was reunited in Sudan just this past summer.

Visitors to the exhibit may notice that the descriptions for the paintings mostly consist of quotes, rather than lofty descriptions of the paintings or artists written by the students. The students invited local Sudanis to look at the paintings during the semester and recorded their comments for the audio tour; one of the artists, Aleu, was interviewed by phone. Some of the Sudanis' comments were transcribed for the wall tags. The goal, says Auslander, was to use the words of the Sudanis as much as possible.

Auslander says the show is "one of the reasons I love teaching at Brandeis." Acknowledging that the show is largely focused on death-"it's a monument to people who aren't here"-the exhibit is, overall, a celebration of peace and hope.

The exhibit runs until Feb. 1 in Goldfarb Library.

The article incorrectly called the Sudanese people "Sudanis" once. Most of the paintings, not only a few, were first exhibited in October in the Dreitzer Gallery in Spingold.