Art as a Sanctuary to Refugees - Report Example

Art as a Sanctuary to Refugees

Immigrants always struggle to find their place in societies that they end up, especially for those who end through such means as refugees. The identity of refugees has been revoked by a newer perspective focusing on how, for instance, the USA government tried to erase their identities by destroying documents on the people all aimed at concealing the ills that the USA did or directed towards the refugees. In the same sense, anthropologists argue that erasing the identities and documents of refugees has only serve the ill-fated role on refugees as regards to finding identities in the USA, since to a greater extent, they are still considered as “others” and not part of the American identities. However, with the Refugee Arts fast emerging, it has been espoused that Art is the space and place for which the population can express, understand and embrace their diversities. Art is a form of engaging and connecting with their backgrounds from which they get the chance of expressing what their ancestors never had the chance to do so. According, Art is currently functioning as the safe haven through which refugees are finding the chances of sharing practices as well as theories. Hence, art is sanctuary since it has no boundaries, from restrictions or politics, a common language spoken enabling refugees to air their opinions in neutrality but in the same sense, they are sharing their inner feelings or dreams of escaping.

Sanctuary, by definition, explicitly refers to the refuge, safety from which individuals can seek cover from danger, persecution and pursuit. In essence, sanctuary aligns with the plight of refugees, which to a greater extent, a safe place where they can escape the dangers of marginalization within the host communities as well as exposing themselves to the agony of escaping the dangers of their home countries (Jasmine). Art as a sanctuary can be defined as the place for reconnecting with home and identity. In this case, art plays the inherent role of connecting individuals with their backgrounds, a place for finding a form of belonging, identity and peace. As sanctuary, the role of art is in playing or performing the inherent role of helping refugees to address marginalization and intimidation. Some have undergone torture and detained for longer periods. However, art as a sanctuary helps the individuals to get the platform for speaking out their minds. The implication is that refugees have been suppressed and rendered powerless. Therefore, through arts, as a sanctuary, it evokes transformation by reconnecting and finding their identities. Most are changed on the perspective of how they view themselves as members misplaced within the community, get encouragement and empowerment to speak about themselves as refugees. The refugee arts project website has the example of Kamaleswaran Selladurai, who had spent detailed in Australian centers and as a refugee from Sri Lanka, most of this time, was devoted to painting which helped him to escape the dangers of being isolated as a detainee and helped him reconnect with Sri Lanka as a home country. Although he lives in Western Sydney having been granted a permanent visa, art helped him to define and find his place in the Australian community while equally connecting him to his Sri Lankan roots.

Art as a sanctuary in helping the individual refugees to escape the ills and dangers of being detailed or even the challenges they undergo as individuals of different identities is that they function as the place of refuge and offering protection through therapy or psychological relaxation. An example of how arts is used for this purpose is the Life in Detention oil canvas painting where Kalamaleshwaran Selladurai showcases how remembers surviving the two-year detention in Australia. In essence, the function of art in this case is on reminding the refugees about their endurance because the painting has the implication to Selladurai of how he went through the traumatic event of being detained for quite a long time but still had hope of finding peace or solace, which he found in arts, painting to be specific. The painting by Selladurai exposes or outlines some of the serious and inherent traumas that refugees go through when detained, including how they miss their families. Equally, arts as a sanctuary plays the role of a sacred and sanctified place where individuals get the spiritual connection and assumes or get the feelings of immunity from the dangers they have gone through when exiled, detained and the traumas of being a refugee. A particular painting from Selleradi is the white dove mounted on converse, above a barbed wire fence showcasing an escape from detention, freedom found from the spiritual harmony, immunity and as such, a sacred place that offers peace and fulfillment. Hence, it highlights the role of arts as a sanctuary for getting and feeling the spiritual peace, freedom and protection.

Equally, an art is where people can share their practices and theories. Some of the artists, by engaging in exposing and outlining the agonizing experiences they had through detention, being in exile or the journey to seeking refuge, have found new careers in painting and other forms of artistry (Jasmine). Not only is painting providing the individuals with the chances and opportunities of expressing themselves, it has become a platform for advancing their practices and experiences with painting as talent and profession. Some have painting different or variety of projects from which they have advancement and embraced their practice further. The Refugee Arts Projects documents paintings and art works from different or various artists from which they have been provided with the platform of sharing their practice of painting as well as the inherent theories that have always defined and shaped the practice.

However much arts has become a sanctuary for the refugees to find and seek solace from the traumas and the misfortunes of their route to becoming refugees, in the same sense, it has not addressed the lingering images of their communities, especially how they are connected to what may have transpired in the home countries. Accordingly, Jasmine argues by providing the specific examples of America hiding the documents on the Vietnamese refugees purposefully to conceal what the nation had exposed the individuals. Conversely, painting and arts is a reconnection to what the individuals escaped from their home countries. At times, it provides the therapeutic refuge and healing on the mental and psychological impacts which the refugee state imposed on the individuals. In the same manner, it means that the images and memories are ever rekindled and connecting to the bad side of the community implies that arts has not provided the safe haven or the solution to the identity crisis and problems facing refugees. The Christmas Island Boat Tragedy from the Refugee Art Project website is categorized under the exile arts which challenge that although arts could be relaxing or therapeutic for refugees who are detained, it barely addresses the mental health challenges that the immigration detention causes, especially detention and anxiety. Sometimes, the profound health consequences would mean that the individuals are resorting to self-harm. In explaining rootedness as a concept, John Hultgren argues that the natural environment is formed from the interactions between individuals and their environment; place is a social construct (p.132). In this case, being connected with the origins is like rekindling the agonies that defined the existence, for instance, violence and blood (Hultgren 127). Essentially, an art is playing the same role in the lives of the refugees by reminding them about the agonistic elements of their place or rootedness and as such, ensuring that the bad memories from their home countries which forced them into fleeing, for instance asylum seekers, do not go away. Sharing platforms like the Refugees Arts Project on stories behind refugees rekindle the memories more so when the individuals converge their paintings and artworks from different cultural backgrounds, which to a greater extent, remain to ensure that the memories are staying for a longer time or duration in mind.

In conclusion, using the visual examples and text justifications, this exploration has opinioned that the place of Art is that of a sanctuary in the life of a refugee. It offers the therapeutic healing from which one gets to relax and escape the thoughts and memories of the horrific experiences. In the same sense, it brings individuals together to share their practices and as such, further their talents or experiences in arts or painting. On the other hand, it is provides spiritual fulfillment as an escape to the bad or agonistic dangers of life and offers spiritual immunity. Despite these roles, arts have failed to address the dangers and imagined dreams of refugees who are willing to escape. Memories of the home countries especially those in exile are not redressed and the experiences of trauma and health implications cemented through art. Therefore, it has not addressed the wish and dreams of refugees to escape their identities as sufferers.