SANCTUARY/SUSTENANCE

Sanctuary/Sustenance: The Story of Many Journeys is a multimedia projection of photography, film, music, and words launched on June 20, 2013 in honor of World Refugee Day in cities around the world. The installation was projected on the facades of community and civic centers, houses of worship, places of learning and other locales that have historically opened their doors as places of welcome and shelter. Collaborators include Lynsey Addario, Marcus Bleasdale, Paula Bronstein, Hélène Caux, Jean Chung, Don Doll, Ron Haviv, David Hogsholt, Giulio di Sturco, and James Whitlow Delano along with filmmaker Maren Wickwire. Sanctuary/Sustenance features music by the Argentine classical composer Osvaldo Noé Golijov. Additional music is by Lee Maddeford, Jonathan Wiest, and Ventanas.

Beginning in 2015, in American and European cities, ART WORKS Projects began a second phase of the initiative with photographers Muna Malik, Khadija Charif, Julia Rendleman, Misael Virgen, Maren Wickwire and others, creating new bodies of work with local resettlement partners. Designed to spark community engagement, they allow the Sanctuary/Sustenance project to reflect specific issues of local importance to refugees and their allies.

Through photographs, moving graphics, and music, viewers have an opportunity to trace the journey of a family during the catastrophic events of displacement, on a path to sanctuary, and through the long process of rebuilding life in a new community. Sanctuary/Sustenance aims to raise the public consciousness of these issues to a wide variety of people, and facilitate conversations about our collective responsibility to welcome refugees and encourage policy makers to act in favor of fundamental human rights for refugees and asylum seekers. The war in Ukraine and recent conflicts in Sudan, Syria and the DRC cause more people to become refugees, it is necessary to bring awareness to the journey and challenges that these individuals and families face.