Thread by @BaytAlFann

Today is World Refugee Day, an international day organised every year on 20 June by the United Nations, to celebrate & honour refugees from around the world.

For #WorldRefugeeDay we are celebrating 21 refugee artists & sharing their stories #WorldRefugeeDay2022

A thread…

1/ Syrian artist Nizar Ali Badr creates depictions of the war in Syria - composed with stones. Each piece tells a story, & the stone scenes seem to come alive. The imagery is all too familiar. A family on the move, their meagre belongings carried on their heads #WorldRefugeeDay

2/ Laila Ajjawi is a graffiti artist born & raised in a Palestinian refugee camp outside of Irbid, Jordan. Her work focuses on women living in the Middle East, particularly refugees. She has created murals with Women on Walls a public art project based in Egypt #WorldRefugeeDay

3/ Connecticut-based Syrian artist @Mhafez100 creates architectural dioramas of Syrian urban environments. The miniatures speak to the political social issues plaguing the artists homeland. The war torn buildings are contrasted by hopeful verses from the Quran #WorldRefugeeDay

4/ Shahzaad Raja is a collage/mixed media artist known as Citizen Raja. He uses images from magazines, newspapers, & books to create pieces that raise awareness about important social issues. Through sales of his work, he raises funds for refugee charities #WorldRefugeeDay

5/ Artist Maamoun AlShayeb was born in Damascus-based Yarmouk Camp. His parents are natives of Haifa, in Palestine. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus & worked as a drawing teacher in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria for over 25 years #WorldRefugeeDay

6/ Afghan graffiti artist @ShamsiaHassani & art professor at Kabul University, grew up as a refugee in Iran because of decades of war. Shamsia had returned to Kabul in 2001. She is dedicated to giving power & strength to people through her art, especially women #WorldRefugeeDay

7/ For 8 years, Kurdish refugee Mostafa Azimitabar was held in an Australian detention centre. He taught himself to paint. With no art supplies, he used just a toothbrush & coffee. He was a finalist in Australia’s top art prize this year for his self-portrait #WorldRefugeeDay

8/ Malak Mattar, a Gaza Strip-based artist began painting at the age of 13 during Israel's 51-day military attack on Gaza in 2014.

‘The Arabic calligraphy in the golden circle is a poem by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish about 'Home and memories'
#WorldRefugeeDay

9/ Ifrah Mansour is a Somali, refugee, multimedia artist residing in Minnesota. Her artwork explores trauma through the eyes of children to uncover the resiliencies of black communities, Muslims & refugees. She interweaves poetry, puppetry, film & installations #WorldRefugeeDay

10/ Bosnian Artist Safet Zec highlights the Srebrenica genocide & the plight of Bosnian refugees in his work. His ‘Exodus’ series of paintings of people fleeing Srebrenica, comprising three sets of artworks entitled ‘Hands on Face’, ‘Tears’ and ‘Hugs’ #WorldRefugeeDay

11/ Meet Bashar: the Syrian refugee artist making magic with his mobile theater in Germany. He built a mobile theater which travels around Nuremberg, with performances that focus on fairy tales & childhood stories from Germany & Syria
#WorldRefugeeDay

12/ Murtaza Hussaini, a refugee from Afganistan settled in Australia in 2009 after he & his family fled across the border to Pakistan before they were granted refugee status in Australia. Murtaza completed a Visual Arts degree at the University of South Australia #WorldRefugeeDay

13/ This year’s edition of the Venice Biennale, hosted the first-ever Palestinian art exhibition. Titled ‘From Palestine with Art’, the exhibition was presented by the Palestine Museum US.

Palestinian portraits, 2022, by Jacqueline Bejani #WorldRefugeeDay

14/ Syrian Artist @ikourbaj work Dark Water, Burning World
depicts miniature boats, filled with extinguished matchsticks, in a rickety convoy fleeing Syria. The boats are a selection from thousands of small objects he has created since the onset of the civil war #WorldRefugeeDay

15/ Artist Alwy Fadhel was a refugee detained for 5 years in an Australian Detention Centre. His paintings are made with instant coffee powder diluted in water. The use of food as an artistic medium says a lot about the resources provided in detention centres #WorldRefugeeDay

16/ Born in 1990 in Shearia, Darfour (Sudan), Mohamed Abakar escaped the political conflicts of his country and went to France in 2015 as a refugee. A photographer & filmmaker he was recognised for his photo series ‘Refugees to Discover’
#WorldRefugeeDay

17/ Artist @Painter_Enayet spends his days painting inside his shelter at the Nayapara Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The camps are home to almost a million Rohingya refugees who fled horrific violence & persecution in Myanmar.

‘Life of Rohingya Women’
#WorldRefugeeDay

18/ Osman Ahmed is a Kurdish artist from Iraq who has exhibited in galleries across Europe & the Middle East, including the Tate Britain & the Imperial War Museum. Most of his drawings come from memory as a witness to years of political & cultural repression #WorldRefugeeDay

19/ Mohamed Jokhadar, a Syrian refugee in Jordan's Zaatari Refugee Camp says he had to face reality “I came to the realization that I'm here & I'm not leaving,” Today he owns a barber shop & operates as an artist. chronicling the horrors unfolding in his homeland #WorldRefugeeDay

20/ Hadil Tamim & Adrian Lawson met each other through their work at the Reading Refugee Support Group, which led to creating a book combining Islamic floral pattern-making with local British flowers. Flowers connect with migration
Watch:

#WorldRefugeeDay

21/ Afghan artist Omar Khamosh fled to Tajikistan in 2021 after he escaped from Taliban militants who threatened him & killed his father. In his new home, he opened a studio offering art classes to students & Afghan refugees, which provide respite.
Credit @AFP
#WorldRefugeeDay