A photographic essay exploring human suffering and persecution through the journeys and lives of today’s refugees.
1 Alone 2 Betrayed 3 Justice 4 Words 5 Outlaw 6 Humiliation 7 Burden 8 Compelled 9 Sold 10 Murder 1 1 Grace 12 Family 13 Trust 14 Borrowed
STATION 1/14 1 ALONE Amira lefu Syria to escape the about what lies ahead for them all in he returned to where he had lefu continual bombardment of her an unfamiliar country, far from family them in the Garden of Gethsemane, home town, which terrifjed and and friends. he discovered they had fallen asleep. traumatised her six young children. Battling with the crushing emotional It takes efgort to stay alert and ‘awake’ , As her husband has lefu her, Amira is and psychological weight of what lied to engage with the stories of torment, raising her children alone in a bedsit ahead, Jesus chose to do what love anguish and sufgering that are ofuen in Beirut, Lebanon. Her oldest son, required of him. Although he knew masked by the phrase ‘refugee crisis’ . who is ten, can’t go to school because that he would have to face the ordeal Weariness, preoccupation with our he has to work to provide for the alone, he had hoped that his friends own concerns and apathy can so ofuen family. Struggling with the day to day would at least support him. But when get the better of us. reality of their lives, Amira worries
STATION 2/14 2 BETRAYED A kiss between playmates in a camp down, hurt us or betray us? for Syrian refugees, the beauty of How do we treat those who are innocent and unguarded afgection. vulnerable to us? To love in this way requires our own Countless refugees who have lefu their vulnerability and openness, and that homes in the hope of fjnding shelter we honour another’s trust in us. have been betrayed every step of the Jesus knew that Judas planned to way, by governments, by traffjckers, betray him, but didn’t go on the even, in some cases, by their own ofgensive in a bid to stop him, instead communities and families. Many have he remained open, vulnerable. How do put themselves at our mercy. How will we respond when those we love let us we respond?
STATION 3/14 3 JUSTICE Forced to fmee ISIS because he worked leaders who opposed him in it that the for the British forces, this man and chances of him getting a fair hearing his family are also having to live with were slim. Tie trial refmects how justice the reality of the onset of Alzheimer’s. is compromised if the instruments of His hope was that the British, who he law are used to serve narrow interests considered his friends, would provide and powerful elites. refuge. But until now, he has been In the case of the Iraqis and Afghanis stuck in a camp in France, where his who helped British forces, the question health is deteriorating. of what is the right thing to do seems When Jesus was tried by the clear cut. But decision making is so Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the ofuen clouded by other considerations. time, there were so many religious
STATION 4/14 4 WORDS Like many Syrians, this little girl and disjuncture between reality and all the under pressure, he denied that he her family are marooned in a tiny fmat rhetoric, spin and strategising, policies even knew Jesus. in Beirut, forced to survive on what and pronouncements that surround it. Numerous announcements, political little they can earn and handouts Peter didn’t want to believe Jesus when posturing, claims that we are doing from friends. Tiis is the experience he told him he would let him down, all we can. What is the reality of our of many who have been forced to insisting that he would remain his response to the refugee crisis? leave Syria to escape the fjghting, loyal friend, no matter what. But in although the focus has been mostly on the end, Jesus experienced the those who are trying to reach Europe. chasm between the reality Peter Ofuen obscured by our perceptions of hoped to conjure with words and the crisis, their stories exemplify the good intentions and the fact that,
STATION 5/14 5 OUTLAW Abdullah, a young Eritrean artist, that unfolded were about the Roman What defjnes us? At a time when the has worked alongside others to leader’s attempts to keep the peace, authorities are seeking to tag refugees decorate the makeshifu church that avoid stirring up trouble and maintain and otherwise put a question mark has become an important focal his position as opposed to doing over their identity, the churches, point in the Calais camp. Amid the the right thing. Pilate tried difgerent theatres, cafés that have sprung up bleakness of Tie Jungle it has provided strategies, attempted to fjnd a way out in the camps are a symbol of creative a haven for people who want to pray by presenting Barabbas to the crowd resistance, a sign that people have and refmect and experience the warmth in the hope that they would agree to the potential to move to a difgerent of community. Jesus’ release. During all of this, Jesus rhythm, to be something other than said very little, but what he did say what the authorities dictate. Jesus’ enemies appealed to Pilate suggests he was operating according because as governor he had the to a difgerent set of rules and values. power to execute him. Tie events
STATION 6/14 6 HUMILIATION Karzan, a Kurdish refugee from Iran, Karzan now lives in the UK and is such torture that would ultimately wants desperately to be able to look waiting for his wife and seven-year-old defjne him. afuer his family. He has felt keenly the son to arrive from Tehran afuer four Refugees are humiliated and humiliations of being a refugee, of years of being separated. Together, he diminished in many ways, from the existing in a no man’s land, of being and I chose this concept using barbed language we use, to the building of stripped of his identity, of not being wire to best represent the trials and fences, the use of barbed wire and able to speak the language of the tribulations he has endured in recent tagging. In spite of this, many, like country where he longs to bring his years as a refugee living in the UK. Karzan, are determined to overcome wife and young family to live. Tie crown of thorns was an ironic the obstacles they face and shape their He’s faced insults and violence, closed mockery, part of a ritual of humiliation own destiny. In another context, theirs borders and closed doors. But he’s and violence that was worse than any might be told as inspirational stories of endured, learnt a new language and animal would receive. Yet it was Jesus’ triumph over adversity. found a home for his family. actions and his choices while enduring
STATION 7/14 7 BURDEN Tiis woman cares for her two disabled demonstrated his willingness to Signifjcantly, it suggests that we have children in a cramped room on the sufger in order to meet the demands responsibility, not only for our actions, roof of a house in Lebanon. Aged 17 of something bigger than himself, but also of our government’s. and 24, her sons need constant care, namely love. By calling on others to do which made the journey from her the same, he challenges the tendency home in Syria extraordinarily arduous. towards wanting only a comfortable Despite the diffjculty of their living life and urges us instead to engage with conditions, she shows remarkable needs that are beyond our own. dignity and courage, and is determined A narrative of stepping up, of being to do the best for her children. willing to sufger for the sake of others, By determining not to shrink back can seem out of sync with a culture so from carrying his cross, Jesus ofuen focused on living a beautiful life.
STATION 8/14 8 COMPELLED Two men from completely difgerent and have supported one another on experience for Simon and future backgrounds and traditions who have the road to recovery. generations of his family. formed a remarkable and unlikely Exhausted and close to death, Jesus Living in constricted circumstances, friendship. Tiey have both sufgered could not go on, so Roman soldiers in situations not of their choosing, a great deal in recent years - one was ordered Simon of Cyrene to carry refugees have found lasting seriously injured in a car accident his cross. One of the crowd until that friendships. Others can’t resist the when he stopped to help a driver point, Simon didn’t have much choice call to be good neighbours, travelling whose car had broken down, the other but to do what he was ordered to do. to the camps as volunteers, opening has been the victim of a violent attack. Tie situation may have been beyond up their homes and communities to Tirown together by circumstances, his control, but later accounts suggest people in need. they have become the best of friends that this was to be a life-changing
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