REFUGEE
Exhibit
Apr 23, 2016 - Aug 21, 2016

Through images created by five internationally acclaimed artists, REFUGEE explores the lives of refugees from a host of diverse populations dispersed and displaced throughout the world. The exhibit features photographs taken in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Myanmar, Serbia, Slovenia, and the United States.

With the number of displaced people having reached 65.3 million globally, according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, this timely exhibition allows audiences to engage with aspects of the plight of refugees not previously encountered, and to reflect on a full range of refugee experiences through singular images. The compelling exhibit offers visitors insight into the plight of refugees, including their efforts to survive, their needs, their dreams and their hopes for a better future.

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UNHCR supported REFUGEE exhibition photographers throughout their endeavors, providing valuable background information and facilitating logistical contact with refugees during and after their dangerous journeys to safety in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

An original documentary film captures REFUGEE exhibition photographers at work on location, delving further into the stories behind their images. The exhibit also offers a virtual reality (VR) experience, giving guests a first-person view of the lives of internally displaced youths in Soacha, Colombia.

Please note that REFUGEE contains some graphic images and content that may not be suitable for all visitors.

Film narrated by UNHCR High Profile Supporter Cate Blanchett

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Featured Photographs

  • Children in Puente Nayero play an improvised game of table football. The success of the Puente Nayero Humanitarian Space has encouraged residents on the neighboring street of Punta Icaco to begin organizing to create their own humanitarian space.
    Buenaventura, Colombia, 2015
    Photo by: Graciela Iturbide
  • Briali Muhaghgh, his wife Hanifa and their children attempted the difficult sea crossing from Turkey to Lesbos in two boats, but Hanifa’s craft ran into trouble. Briali and his eight-year-old daughter, Roya, landed on Lesbos convinced that Hanifa and the other three children had died. Still, Briali and Roya pressed on. After learning that the others were alive, Briali paid the smugglers again and reunited the family in Berlin.
    Reichstag Building, Berlin, Germany, 2015
    Photo by: Tom Stoddart
  • A.* cooks in her family home in Say Tha Mar Gyi Camp. She is married, but her husband left her within the last year to return to his family. (*Name withheld for protection)
    Say Tha Mar Gyi, Myanmar, 2015
    Photo by: Lynsey Addario
  • Young Ibrahima has spent his entire life in Mbile. When his mother, Hawa, fled the Central African Republic, she had to make the long, difficult journey while pregnant. They still have no news of his father’s whereabouts. Hawa hopes that Ibrahima will get an education and look after her in her old age.
    Mbile refugee site, Cameroon, 2015
    Photo by: Omar Victor Diop
  • After arriving by train at Središče ob Dravi, Slovenia, a mother and baby wait for buses provided by the Slovenian authorities to take them further along their journey towards Western Europe.
    Slovenia, 2015
    Photo by: Tom Stoddart
  • A mother carries her daughter across the border between Serbia and Croatia.
    Near Berkasovo, Serbia, 2015
    Photo by: Tom Stoddart
  • A father celebrates his family's safe passage to Lesbos after a stormy crossing over the Aegean Sea from Turkey. 
    Lesbos, Greece, 2015
    Photo by: Tom Stoddart
  • New Americans: Portraits of refugees who have recently resettled in the United States as part of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Maryna, 27, Belarus
    New Americans - New York, New York, 2016
    Photo by: Martin Schoeller
  • New Americans: Portraits of refugees who have recently resettled in the United States as part of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Patricia, 22, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
    New Americans - New York, New York, 2016
    Photo by: Martin Schoeller
  • New Americans: Portraits of refugees who have recently resettled in the United States as part of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Bhimal, 42, Bhutan
    New Americans - New York, New York, 2016
    Photo by: Martin Schoeller

Stories Behind the Photographs

  • The success of the Puente Nayero Humanitarian Space has encouraged residents on the neighboring street of Punta Icaco to begin organizing to create their own humanitarian space.

    Graciela Iturbide

    View profile
  • Briali Muhaghgh, his wife Hanifa and their children attempted the difficult sea crossing from Turkey to Lesbos in two boats, but Hanifa’s craft ran into trouble. Briali and his eight-year-old daughter, Roya, landed on Lesbos convinced that Hanifa and the other three children had died. Still, Briali and Roya pressed on. After learning that the others were alive, Briali paid the smugglers again and reunited the family in Berlin.

    Tom Stoddart

    View profile
  • When his mother, Hawa, fled the Central African Republic, she had to make the long, difficult journey while pregnant. They still have no news of his father’s whereabouts. Hawa hopes that Ibrahima will get an education and look after her in her old age.

    Omar Victor Diop

    View profile
  • A. cooks in her family home in Say Tha Mar Gyi Camp. She is married, but her husband left her within the last year to return to his family.

    Lynsey Addario

    View profile
  • New Americans: Portraits of refugees who have recently resettled in the United States as part of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

    Martin Schoeller

    View profile

Featured Photographers

 
  • Lynsey Addario

    Lynsey Addario

    An American photojournalist based in London, Lynsey Addario photographs for The New York Times, National Geographic and Time Magazine.
  • Omar Victor Diop

    Omar Victor Diop

    Omar Victor Diop is a photographer whose portfolio is a testimony on the history and current mutations of African societies in and out of Africa.
  • Graciela Iturbide

    Graciela Iturbide

    Graciela Iturbide has been a member of the Mexican Salon of Plastic Arts, the Foundation of Contemporary Arts and the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte.
  • Martin Schoeller

    Martin Schoeller

    Martin Schoeller’s detailed portraits of everyday people, iconic personalities and political figures have made him a distinctive presence in contemporary photographic portraiture.
  • Tom Stoddart

    Tom Stoddart

    Stoddart's acclaimed work on the HIV/AIDS pandemic blighting sub-Saharan Africa won the POYi World Understanding Award in 2003.

Exhibit Photographers

 
  • Matt Black

    Matt Black

    Matt Black's work has explored the connections between migration, poverty, agriculture and the environment in his native rural California and in southern Mexico.
  • Marcus Bleasdale

    Marcus Bleasdale

    Marcus Bleasdale is a British photojournalist who uses his work to influence policy makers around the world.
  • Paula Bronstein

    Paula Bronstein

    Paula Bronstein’s many nominations and awards span decades, representing a lifetime of phenomenal frontline news and documentary photography across the globe.
  • Fabio Bucciarelli

    Fabio Bucciarelli

    Fabio Bucciarelli is a documentary photographer who focuses his attention on conflicts and humanitarian consequences of war.
  • Elena Dorfman

    Elena Dorfman

    Elena Dorfman was asked by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to photograph Syrians throughout the Middle East who had fled war and persecution at home.
  • Lynn Johnson

    Lynn Johnson

    Lynn Johnson is known for her intense and sensitive work, dividing her time between assignments for National Geographic and various foundations.
  • Meridith Kohut

    Meridith Kohut

    Meridith Kohut is a photographer and multimedia journalist based in Caracas, Venezuela, where she has worked covering Latin America for the foreign press since 2007.
  • Kadir Lohuizen

    Kadir Lohuizen

    Kadir van Lohuizen is best known for his long-term projects on the seven rivers of the world, the rising of sea levels, the diamond industry and migration in the Americas.
  • Ed Ou

    Ed Ou

    Ed Ou is a Canadian photojournalist who has traveled to the Middle East, former Soviet Union, and Africa.
  • Brian Sokol

    Brian Sokol

    Photographer Brian Sokol is focused on telling the stories of refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and stateless people in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
  • Maria Turchenkova

    Maria Turchenkova

    Maria Turchenkova is a Russian photographer whose work explores underreported stories.
  • David Zimmerman

    David Zimmerman

    For the past 20 years, David Zimmerman's work has focused on endangered landscapes and cultures displaced by environmental, social, economic and political causes.

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