During the Geneva Peace Forum 2026, visitors are invited to explore two exhibitions that offer distinct perspectives on peace, dialogue and the lived realities behind them.
Both exhibitions will be on display from 12 to 15 October 2026 on the ground floor of the CICG, in the Espace Ruth Dreifuss.
A special group exhibition presented by GOWEN in collaboration with the Geneva Peace Forum
For the Geneva Peace Forum 2026, GOWEN presents When the Dove Arrives, a group exhibition bringing together works by leading international artists in response to this year’s theme: Choose Peace.
Taking as its starting point Pablo Picasso’s Colombe de la Paix (1956), the exhibition reflects on the enduring power of the dove as a symbol of hope, protection and shared humanity. Originally created in connection with the 1949 Paris Peace Congress, Picasso’s iconic image continues to resonate across generations and borders.
Through photography, painting and drawing, the exhibition brings together diverse artistic voices whose works explore conflict, exile, trauma and political or historical division, while also evoking reconciliation, compassion, love and human connection. In dialogue with one another, the works invite visitors to consider how recognising our shared vulnerability, dignity and capacity for connection can help create the conditions for peace.
The exhibition unfolds through three thematic dialogues.
The first brings Picasso’s Dove of Peace into conversation with works by Waseem Ahmed, whose Invisible Border series explores territorial boundaries, migration and displacement. His delicate miniature paintings use fissures and lines to evoke the partitioning of land and the uncertainty experienced by those forced to cross borders. In M’hammed Kilito’s photograph Aves Pacis “birds of peace” birds move freely across the borders that divide people. James Nachtwey’s image of children playing in Soweto offers another vision of freedom: for a brief moment, they seem liberated from gravity itself.
A second passage centres on hands, gestures of agreement, consolation, comfort and solidarity, in works by Françoise Pétrovitch, Jérôme Zonder and James Nachtwey. Their images speak to tenderness, resistance and the human impulse to care for one another.
Finally, the exhibition turns towards hope and harmony, looking to a new generation beyond the traumas of the past. Works by Nachtwey, Seif Kousmate and Sofia Yeganeh evoke optimism, celebration and the emotional bonds that connect people across distance, experience and time.
Around 20 works are included in the exhibition.
Waseem Ahmed is one of Pakistan’s foremost contemporary miniature artists. Born in Hyderabad in 1976 and based in Lahore, his work draws on personal and collective histories to address social, political and cultural tensions. Through experimental approaches to miniature painting, he explores migration, heritage, mythology and the human consequences of conflict.
M’hammed Kilito is a Moroccan documentary photographer, born in Lviv in 1981 and based in Casablanca. His work explores migration, identity, environmental change and marginalised communities. His photographs have been exhibited internationally, including at Tate Modern, the Sharjah Art Foundation and the Leica Ernst Leitz Museum.
Seif Kousmate is a visual artist born in Essaouira in 1988 and based in Tangier, Morocco. His practice began in documentary photography and has developed into a broader contemporary approach, exploring marginalisation, climate change, masculinity, fatherhood and the lived experiences of communities across Africa.
James Nachtwey is an American photojournalist whose work has documented wars, conflict and critical social issues around the world since 1981. His photographs have brought attention to conflicts and humanitarian crises from Rwanda and South Africa to the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine. His work is held in major international museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Centre Pompidou.
Françoise Pétrovitch is a French artist whose work spans drawing, painting, ceramics, glass, printmaking and video. Her evocative works often explore intimacy, adolescence, disappearance and ambiguity. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Louvre-Lens, the Centre Pompidou and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Sofia Yeganeh is a British-Iranian artist based in London. Working across embroidery, collage and painting, she explores identity, the body, emotional connection and human attachment. Her Interaction series uses thermal images, paint and hand-stitched embroidery to make visible the emotional and energetic bonds between people.
Jérôme Zonder is a French artist whose virtuosic drawing practice explores the tension between proximity and distance, figuration and abstraction, attraction and repulsion. His work has been presented in major institutions including the Musée Tinguely, Château de Chambord, Casino Luxembourg and the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme in Paris.
On display: 12–15 October 2026, 9:00–19:30
Location: Ground floor, Espace Ruth Dreifuss, CICG
GOWEN represents emerging and mid-career artists through an ambitious programme of exhibitions, curatorial projects and participation in international art fairs. The gallery is recognised for presenting rigorous and engaging artistic practices, often bringing contemporary works into dialogue with significant historical pieces from private collections.
Founded in 2009 by Laura Gowen and Faye Fleming, the gallery is now based at Grand-Rue 23 in Geneva’s Old Town, with a second space, GOWEN LAB, at Rue Jean-Calvin 4. Under the direction of Laura Gowen, together with co-directors Michael Gowen and Marie Allal-Dittmar, GOWEN continues to champion diverse, critically engaged and forward-looking artistic practices.
Discover more at www.gowen.art.
The exhibition is curated by Laura Gowen, with the support of Marie Allal-Dittmar, Michael Gowen and Alexia Green.
Laura Gowen is the Founder and Director of GOWEN. A graduate in Literature, Philosophy and Art History from the Università degli Studi di Milano, she has worked for more than 20 years as a private art dealer in Geneva, specialising in modern and contemporary works. She founded Art Connection S.A. in 2006 and co-founded Faye Fleming & Partner in 2009, which later became GOWEN. Since 2022, she has also been a guest speaker at HEG, the Geneva School of Business Administration.
Michael Gowen studied French literature, art history and Russian at the University of Geneva. Following an internship at the studio of Joana Vasconcelos in Lisbon, he joined GOWEN in 2024. As Co-Director, he focuses particularly on the gallery’s photography programme.
Alexia Green is Head of Communications at GOWEN. She holds a BA in European Business Administration and has worked in marketing, advertising and communications across the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Alongside her work at the gallery, she lectures at a private business school on the Swiss Riviera, encouraging students to explore how art can challenge perspectives, nurture critical thinking and deepen engagement with contemporary issues.
Marie Allal-Dittmar is a historian with a Franco-German Master’s degree in History from Aix-Marseille University and Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. Her research focuses on contemporary history, transnational networks, migration and the circulation of ideas between Europe and the Arab world. She has worked with GOWEN since 2024 and became Co-Director of the gallery’s photography programme in 2026.