At the very least, complex personhood is about conferring the respect on others that comes from presuming that life and people's lives are simultaneously straightforward and full of enormously subtle meaning. 
- Avery Gordon, Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination (2008)

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Over the past several years, images and accounts of refugees have dominated the media. Our Facebook feeds and the flashing screens of our TVs portray refugees as both in need of protection and people from which we need protecting. They are all at once victims and threats, superhuman and less than human, invisible and hypervisible.  However, life is never as simple as it is portrayed to be and these refugee narratives are no exception. 

In this art installation, we have chosen to cover certain parts of these images to confront the idea that one image can tell the whole story. We hope to challenge some of the simplistic and often dangerous narratives that surround refugees in the media.  As you engage with these images, we encourage you to think critically about your assumptions both about the covered and uncovered images (click each image to uncover it). Please feel free to contact us about your reactions in the About Us tab. 

 

This art installation was created by members of Professor Tran's Introduction to Critical Refugee Studies course as a final project.