Uprooted and Transplanted With ‘REFUGEE’ and ‘New Americans’ at the Annenberg Space for Photography

Rachael McDonald

Our present global refugee crisis has incited mixed responses locally and internationally. Ranging from the compassionate to directly hostile, this crisis has affected millions of people and thrown them in a state of internal as well as external chaos. Between a perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea, unstable countries within the European Union and an epidemic of fear in the United States, this man-made crisis leaves an astounding amount of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and a handful of other countries displaced by ongoing war as well as poverty. Marooned primarily throughout Europe, these people are unable to continue along the same trajectory that their lives had once been; access to education is completely unavailable and their lives and dreams have been brought to a screeching halt. 

The Annenberg Space for Photography is presenting the stories of refugees and transplants through their eyes and experiences. Two special exhibits, “REFUGEE” and “New Americans,” share the journeys and destinations of the populations dispersed and displaced throughout our planet through a series of photographs and mixed media projects.

“REFUGEE” follows the lives of refugees, whose numbers are now above 65.3 million, who have been dispersed and displaced throughout the world in countries like Germany, Mexico, Serbia, the United States and Greece. Told through photographs by five internationally acclaimed artists, we are invited to engage in aspects of their struggle that are rarely made visible, let alone public. Accompanied by a documentary narrated by Cate Blanchett, the space delves even further by providing guests with a first-person virtual reality experience of displaced youths in Soacha, Colombia. “REFUGEE” provides a window into the plights and dreams of displaced people across the globe. The second exhibit,

“New Americans,” documents stories about refugees who have successfully resettled in America. These narratives are told by a series of photographs by Humans of New York, audio recordings, short films and interactive and multimedia projects by a number of artists that illustrate the personal legacy of newly settled people in the United States.

“REFUGEE” and “New Americans” will be on display from April 23 through Aug. 21 at the Annenberg Space for Photography.