The Citizen Recommends: Friends, Peace, and Sanctuary
The Citizen Recommends: Friends, Peace, and Sanctuary
This spring and summer, the Swarthmore-based project will utilize art to engage Philadelphians on the experiences of the Syrian and Iraqi refugees amongst us
Mar. 29, 2019
"What I desire to share with y'all is very important," said Yaroub Al-Obaidi, community liaison for the Friends, Peace & Sanctuary project. "The definition of a 'refugee'."
Al-Obaidi, a writer, artist and arts activist, looked out at an audience of generally native-born Americans, during an exhibit by the International Refugee Assistance Program and Penn Constabulary & The Arts earlier this month, and began to underline what he sees equally the of import distinction between an immigrant and a refugee—a misconception he comes across often. "A refugee is a person who is the same like you," he said. "He has [a] life, he has [a] car, he has [a] house and he has [a] job. But at present he cannot get dorsum to his state."
Each twelvemonth, 68.five one thousand thousand men, women and children are forced to leave their homes because of state of war, political upheaval, or the threat of persecution, according to the International Rescue Committee . This places them under the category of refugee and asylum seeker. An immigrant, on the other manus, is someone who made a conscious decision to leave their home and resettle elsewhere. Both come with farthermost challenges, hardship and heartache.
"A refugee is a person who is the same like you," he said. "He has [a] life, he has [a] machine, he has [a] house and he has [a] chore. But now he cannot go back to his country."
Merely what Al-Obaidi, who grew upwards in Iraq and moved to Philadelphia in 2016, along with those collaborating on the Friends, Peace & Sanctuary project, want people to know about is: They are more than just a category; they are individuals, with individual experiences, only like the rest of us.
This weekend and throughout the spring and summertime, the Swarthmore-based projection will utilize art, conversation and customs appointment to explore the displacement, refuge, history and hope of Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Boot off the weekend, artists and community members are invited to come together to celebrate the culmination of a ii yr multimedia arts projection nearly existence a refugee, and how that informs life in the U.South. On Saturday, participants can sample Syrian and Iraqi nutrient, larn near the civilisation of each and join a number of art demonstrations at Swarthmore College's science center.
"The arts tends to have a focus on individuals. When nosotros remember about arts we oft think near 'Picasso,' we often call back about these big individuals," creative director Suzanne Seesman says. "One of the things that's really crucial in general is that arts more often happens in communities, there's a whole group of amazing artists in Northeast Philadelphia, in the whole Philadelphia region, and past Iraqi and Syrian people who have resettled."
Supported by a Pew Eye for the Arts & Heritage grant, Friend s, Peace & Sanctuary is a program of Swarthmore Higher Libraries and Lang Center for Borough & Social Responsibleness. It began in 2022 as a mode to bring together renowned book artists—like Islam Aly and Maureen Cummins —and displaced individuals in Philadelphia to help spark a give-and-take around belonging, building empathy and portraying refugees as more one monolithic group.
"We desire to go against the stereotyping about refugees," Ramadan says. "Each one has a dissimilar story, dissimilar background and it's important to testify that diversity."
In the concluding two years, artists from across the city and region have collaborated with resettled individuals in Philly who learned book art skills like bookbinding, paper cut, silk screening, paper making and photography by participating in workshops. Artists so created their ain works based off of their interactions with resettled individuals and hearing their stories.
That work that volition be on display starting this weekend at Swarthmore ; and throughout July in Metropolis Hall , Twelve Gates Arts , the Free Library Parkway Cardinal Branch ; and then ending in the fall in Brooklyn .
City Hall, Twelve Gates Arts and the Free Library stand for, to Seesman, a "magic trio." From the contemporary art gallery, to the place where public policy is made, Seesman wanted to extend the conversation far and broad effectually the cardinal question the project asks: How might sharing personal experiences through the process of making art about migration, displacement or refuge increase our sense of belonging?
Works will include sound and sculpture, performance fine art, art that resulted from workshops with renowned artists in collaboration with local refugees, and archival textile.
Storyteller, engineer and collaborator with Friends, Peace & Sanctuary Shouq Ramadan, a 31-twelvemonth-sometime Palestinian who grew upwardly in Syria, says she hopes the exhibitions will give people a better understanding of refugee life. "We want to go confronting the stereotyping near refugees," Ramadan says. "Each 1 has a unlike story, dissimilar groundwork and information technology's of import to show that diversity."
Fri, March 29, Opening Exhibition & Communal Dinner, iv:30 pm-8:thirty pm, Tickets Here, Swarthmore Higher, McCabe Library, 500 Higher Ave, Lansdowne; Saturday, March 30, Customs Celebration, 12 pm-6:xxx pm, Swarthmore College Science Center
Photo via Friends, Peace & Sanctuary Facebook 
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/the-citizen-recommends-friends-peace-and-sanctuary/
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