Reframing the experience of Syrian Refugees

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My midterm project focused on exploring ways to reframe how we see Syrian refugees. I wanted to place refugee families fleeing their war torn countries in galactic-like environments to signify a sense of traveling into the unknown. At the same time, I wanted to reshape how we view their journey to their host countries and inspire a sense of adventure into their exploration of new lands. I followed a progression in terms of the number of people in the frame – starting from 2 women in “Leaving Home”, to 5 people in “Family departing”, to around 7 in “Follow the leader”, then an entire row of people in “The unknown” and lastly in the “Eye of the storm”, I close the series with the an entire boat filled with Syrian refugees. I used photos that I found online from various newspapers that published stories about the struggles of the refugees. Finally, the white outlines and faded faces provide social commentary on how the media portrays Syrian refugees as interchangeable human beings, showing them to us as numbers and statistics.