A ‘Light’ shed on Darfur crisis

Brian Steidle is a man on a mission. The former Marine and subject of the book and documentary “The Devil Came on Horseback” wants to tell the world what is happening in Darfur. “The first part is awareness,” he says.

Steidle, a deft photographer, witnessed genocide in 2004, when he was working for a government-contracted company monitoring a fragile cease-fire in place at the time. “I was one of only three Americans advising the African Union on military operations,” Steidle says of his time in Sudan.

His latest attempt to educate Americans about the atrocities committed in the Darfur region of Sudan is via art -- specifically, the show “Light of Hope,” which will be at L.A. City Hall’s Bradley Tower for one night, on Friday.

The photographer gave more than a dozen artists (including some big names such as Larry Bell and Shepard Fairey, the latter of whom is slated to DJ on Friday) a picture he snapped two years ago of children from Darfur. Each artist was free to take that photo and work it into his or her own piece.

Steidle is already known on the college lecture circuit and in U.S. government circles as an eloquent spokesman on the crisis in Darfur, thanks to his heartbreaking photographs and disturbing newspaper accounts of genocide. He also recently published his memoirs about his time in Africa under the same title as the documentary. The movie, which just screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, opens in L.A. on June 1 at Laemmle’s Music Hall Theatre.

As for Friday’s show, the exhibit will also serve as a silent auction benefiting the L.A. Darfur Observance Day Reception (Sunday) and the HOPE Campaign for Darfur. “We’re trying to raise awareness and money,” Steidle says. “We are giving artists an opportunity to make a difference and help. It’s all about educating individuals on what’s happening over there.”

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“Light of Hope: Reception & Art Show,” Bradley Tower at Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., L.A. 7 to 10 p.m. Friday. (310) 282-8080, www.ladarfurobservance.org.