This series depicts the real stories of real refugee children. Each set is based on the stories and testimony gathered through participatory art and craft workshops at humanitarian charity Save the Children programmes with Burundian refugees in the Nyarugusu Camp in Tanzania, and with Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. I collaborated with children and adults within these communities to build large sets and then photographed subjects within them, drawing on real experiences to depict the reality of life for displaced children. Local refugee children, artists, trades and craft people helped build the sets, using materials found within the camp. I built my stages in the middle of the refugee camps, without photoshop montage nor collage.
The Art of Survival, a photography project around the theme of ‘Refuge’, was commissioned by Save the Children earlier this year. The elaborately staged scenes bear witness to the hopes, fears and challenges faced by Burundian children seeking refuge in Tanzania, and Syrian children who have fled to Lebanon. Images explore their past memories, present day realities and dreams for the future.
There are over 3.5 million refugee children around the world out of school. Without an education, these children have no future. Internet search for children refugees generate thousands of similar looking images. I felt that repetitive broadcasting by popular media meant these stereotypes did not work anymore and that a different way of story telling was required. I wanted to humanise personal stories hoping the world would take notice of the breadth and complexity of children seeking refuge. I was totally committed to taking every chance to put a human face to children refugees and to deliver a fresh and unique photography.
The idea was to show real children and tell their real stories, by involving the subjects, listening to them, creating a decor together with them, by staging their lives and their desires. Through participative and performative staged photography, I wanted to have real children role play themselves to tell stories in a unique visual way while upholding their dignity. This art project was going to provide a rare chance for the children refugees to express themselves and I wanted the resulting photos to be empowering representations of these children.
My aim was to turn this project into a refugee community art project by involving local artisans and young artists and using recycled humanitarian materials, thereby turning these symbols of loss and displacement into a canvass for kids to express themselves in order to raise awareness for the plight of children refugees. I wanted the overall artistic feel to be colourful, naïve and surreal to help de-dramatize a bit the stories so that the audience may look at them without apprehension despite the hardness of the message. Almost like a play or a fairy tale for adults, created by children.
So we ran participatory art and craft workshops with children and their families in refugee camps in Lebanon and Tanzania, and built large theatrical sets in refugee camps (without photoshop montage nor collage) which draw on the real experiences and perspectives of refugee children. Together we produced 8 images, which I hope goes beyond the usual news reportage imagery of refugee crisis, bringing a fresh approach to humanitarian storytelling. I hope these images help Save the Children achieve their goals of calling for a global commitment to ensure no refugee child should be out of school for more than one month.