In honor of World Refugee Day, UNHCR in Jordan organized an art project that sought to add some color and positivity to a universal symbol of dis-lodgement.
The tents were recycled UNHCR tents originally supplied to Syrians inside the Za’atari refugee camp, and were used as a medium to raise awareness about the quandary of refugees everywhere. Three tents were transformed into modern art forms — revolving around different themes — including The Impact of War on Families, Memories which was inspired by Gustav Klimt, and the third entitled Hope. The tents raise awareness about the issues while simultaneously promoting activity and a positive way of processing what is happening for the children and families.
Each tent took three days to be completed, and were worked on in two shifts by groups of fifteen children and adults. “Lives fall apart when forcefully expelled from their homes and need to be rebuilt again. We aimed to translate this theme by using recycled UNHCR tents to show the shattering and reassembling of lives,” says Hannah Thomas, one of the UNHCR project coordinators. “The children loved being involved in an art project on such a large scale. It was chaotic and quite messy at times – our hands, feet and clothes were covered in paint – but there was always much laughter!”
For more information: UNHCR Jordan, UNHCR Home Page
