Expressing forced displacement through art
This exhibition presents various ways of expressing the artistic pursuits of the refugees. Artists through various forms of expression, such as painting, video creation, poetry and more, externalize their quests and their personal experiences on forced displacement.
Team Painting | Creation of “Lotus”
“What do you see at first glance when you see this image?
Is the message of the image clear or not?
Look at the woman with a raised neck. She has gone through many ups and downs.
Look at the old wall behind her, she has left all fears behind the wall and now she is watching the green buds of hope that have started to grow from the holes in the wall.
When she was on the other side of the wall, she believed in the light holes which she saw on the wall and chose light as her guide.
The lights led her to this side of the wall. Now on this side of the wall, hope has sprouted from exactly the same holes.
This is the life story of many of us. We women have faced these walls over and over again in order to achieve our goals.
The walls that are built with the patriarchal beliefs of the society, because of our gender, they stifle our voice behind these walls.
But it is we women who must tear down these walls and plant the buds of hope that have sprouted from the holes in the walls
in a land full of peace and irrigate them with love, but the only way to tear down these walls is to find the holes of light that guide us.
Hopefully, one day no gender will be superior to the other and we will all have equal human rights.”
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Team Painting
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Team Painting
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Team Painting
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Team Painting
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Team Painting
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Team Painting
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Team Painting
Book from Parwana Amiri
Parwana Amiri, a women refugee from Afghanistan created a series of books and poems in order to express her thoughts by presenting her experience on forced migration
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A poem for expressing the experience on forced migration
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A poem for expressing the experience on forced migration
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A poem for expressing the experience on forced migration
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Extract from the book of Parwana Amiri “The olive tree & the old woman”
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Extract from the book of Parwana Amiri “The olive tree & the old woman”
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Extract from the book of Parwana Amiri “The olive tree & the old woman”
Painting & embroidery on canvas
Another form of art and expression is painting combined with embroidery on canvas. As you can see, the topics used by the refugees are quite broad, but they are based on their personal experiences. The paintings are creations of Palwasha Ashrafi
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Painting and embroidery on canvas
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Painting and embroidery on canvas
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Painting and embroidery on canvas
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Painting and embroidery on canvas
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Painting and embroidery on canvas
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Painting and embroidery on canvas
“The olive tree & the old woman”
Written by Parwana Amiri, living in a tent with her family in the olive grove next to the hotspot Moria
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Extract from the book of Parwana Amiri “The olive tree & the old woman”
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Extract from the book of Parwana Amiri “The olive tree & the old woman”
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Extract from the book of Parwana Amiri “The olive tree & the old woman”
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Extract from the book of Parwana Amiri “The olive tree & the old woman”
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Extract from the book of Parwana Amiri “The olive tree & the old woman”
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Extract from the book of Parwana Amiri “The olive tree & the old woman”
The experience of traveling from Afghanistan to Greece drawn by children
Refugee children living in camps have created some paintings to describe the experience of traveling from Afghanistan to Greece. Then Jawad Jafari and Zahra Mojahed created this video to bring these stories together.
“Messengers of Peace”
I’m a woman! The one who is afraid of the sound of a bomb. The one who hates war. The one who trembles when she holds a gun. The one who has shed tears and wished for peace many times after seeing the images of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
The one who smiles even in the most difficult of situations. The one who must be strong enough to protect her children in the absence of their father. The one who has to leave her home and emigrate with a throat full of hatred. I am the one who used to wake up every morning with love. I braided my hair and put lipstick on my lips, believing in the beauty of this world.
Now I wake up to the sound of bombs. My body shivers, but I have to be strong. Every day I imagine Afghan, Syrian and Middle Eastern women thinking about all these years as if the world is used to being in war. Everyone is talking about leaving these days. Women and children should go to safe places but, I shout, where in the world can one find a safer place than their own home?
The images of Middle Eastern & African women is painted in front of my eyes again, the same women that no one welcomed when they arrived in Europe. No one talked about the beauty and colour of their eyes. No one talked about their courage and strength. I understand these women better than anyone, just as they understand me and the women of Ukraine better than anyone.
I put on my military uniform and shout that I will fight alongside the men. I put white flowers on my braided hair because I want to have a sign of peace on me when I go to war and march on to the war of inequalities, injustices, ugliness, and dictators.
And I am sure that you, women all over the world, know that we celebrate women’s day because our presence makes the world a better place.
Article by Mahdia Hossaini