Photo by David LaBelle
A group of artists, educators and volunteers worked together to produce 鈥淲e the People,鈥 an outdoor art exhibit at 麻豆视频最新最全 University that paid tribute to refugees from around the world who have made Northeast Ohio their home.
The exhibit spanned the Lefton Esplanade throughout the spring, showcasing large photographic portraits of individuals who fled their home countries and now live in or near the Kent area.
Fran莽oise Massardier-Kenney, PhD, professor of French translation in the Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies in 麻豆视频最新最全鈥檚 College of the Arts鈥攁nd codirector of the Global Understanding Research Initiative with Paul Haridakis, PhD, professor of communication studies in the School of Communication Studies鈥攐rganized the project in collaboration with photographer Erin LaBelle of Ohio University, a former photography professor at 麻豆视频最新最全. Several Akron-based refugee programs and some 麻豆视频最新最全 students also aided in the effort.
The 25 refugees featured in the photo display fled to the United States to avoid war, oppression or the threat of grave danger in their home countries. Massardier-Kenney says that with the 鈥渦nprecedented numbers鈥 of refugees moving to other countries, it is important to remember that the United States is a country built on immigrants.
It is important to remember that the United States is a country built on immigrants.
The exhibit is part of a larger collaborative project that seeks to document and address the lack of adequate resources for refugee/immigrant youth to develop and maintain a strong identity.
GURI鈥檚 research aims to identify the most significant challenges and threats to immigrant youths鈥 identities, take inventory of the resources available to them for developing and maintaining a viable identity in their host culture, and then use these findings to devise鈥攊n collaboration with agencies that serve refugee and immigrant youth and their families鈥攅vidence-based best practices for helping them.
Because of its high impact, 鈥淲e the People鈥 will be on display again at the same location in September 2019.