The refugee experience has been hijacked by media outlets who twist the story in order to present a tale of inhuman masses surging towards borders in order to strip countrymen of their life and home. “The real crisis right now is that the media and politicians are focusing only on negative examples,” Shahm Mashoun, a Syrian refugee said1. The rhetoric used takes away the humanity that exists in these crisis situations and “others” those who are in dire need of assistance. Books like “We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled,” have tried to showcase the different experiences that can occur within a crisis by using direct quotations from refugee interviews in order to craft a chronological look into the feelings of civilians harmed by the Syrian Civil War2. While allowing the refugee’s words to create the flow of information, there is still something missing. While reading the book, the readers finds themselves yearning for a deeper understanding of the refugees as people. You begin to wonder what their favorite song was, their favorite color, what were the stories they told their children before they drifted off to sleep. You are longing for more information because more information leads to a more holistic view of refugees as people.
The Humans of New York photography project was created by Brandon Stanton. This project interviewed random people on the streets of New York and delved into their personal lives. A sense of community was built as each viewer was able to find a story they related to. Each interviewee seemed to confront truths from their past that they had never said aloud3. This project was extended to Vanderbilt University’s campus with the Humans of Vanderbilt campaign created by the CreativeDores committee of Hidden Dores, an activist organization whose goal is to educate the Vanderbilt community on minority oppression and amplify the voices of its marginalized members. Hidden Dores also constructed an identity campaign in which they took portraits of individuals and allowed them to draw on the images. This was a project that encouraged people to redefine themselves outside of what society and strangers may define them as. This also allowed the participants to reclaim their narratives4.
This project will combine these ideas by interviewing and photographing refugees. One of the main goals behind conducting these interviews is to highlight the humanity of refugee populations and encourage members of communities all around the world to welcome refugees. In this age of hate speech and discrimination, refugees deserve the opportunity to have their narratives accurately and wholly heard.
References:
- UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR). 2019. Refugees are not the crisis. It’s the narratives we tell about them. https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/refugees-are-not-the-crisis-its-the-narratives-we-tell-about-them/
- PEARLMAN, W. 2017. We crossed a bridge and it trembled. New York, NY.
- STANTON, B. 2019. Humans of New York: About. http://www.humansofnewyork.com/about
- HIDDEN DORES. 2018. Photos. https://www.facebook.com/hiddendores/