Judith Trager
Refugee Series
Pop-Up Exhibition
Tonight, where would you go to find safety if you were forced to flee your home? How would displacement and the impossibility of returning home change the course of your life?
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 70.8 million forcibly displaced persons around the globe today. Each one fled their home to escape religious or ethnic persecution, war or other conflicts, or human rights violations. Of these, 25.9 million are refugees, meaning they fled across an international border. More than half of all refugees are children aged 18 and under. Three-quarters of refugees have spent five years or more away from their homes.
In 2016, Judith Trager was following the news of millions fleeing the Syrian civil war. In particular, the images accompanying the news ignited her compassion, resulting in five artworks that capture vignettes of the refugee experience: blocked access to safety, moving into a refugee camp, peril, death, and finally—resettlement. She calls them the Refugee Series.
In a recent interview with the International Quilt Museum, Trager reflected: “The cloth holds us together. We’re vulnerable. We’re careless. We need something to cover us.” Trager used humanity’s shared experience with cloth as a covering and protection to speak compassionately to the experience of refugees who are exposed and at risk.