Refugees in Art and Religion

You are warmly invited to join us for an evening considering Refugees in Art and Religion

The evening includes a chance to view the powerful installation ‘Sea of Colour’, by artist Güler Ates, part of the Stations2016 exhibition, and hear the artist speak about the process of creating the piece.

This will be followed by a thought-provoking and interactive workshop led by the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme, exploring the theme of ‘refugees’ through the lens of Jewish, Muslim and Christian scriptures.

5:00pm - Registration, refreshments and viewing the artwork

5:30pm - Welcome and interview with the artist

6:00pm - Scriptural Reasoning workshop

7:30pm - Close

Scriptural Reasoning (SR) is a tool for inter-faith dialogue whereby people of different faiths come together to read and reflect on their scriptures. Unlike many forms of inter-faith engagement, SR is not about seeking agreement but rather exploring the texts and their possible interpretations across faith boundaries, and learning to ‘disagree better’. The result is often a deeper understanding of others and one’s own scriptures, as well as the development of strong bonds across faith communities. SR is now practiced globally, including in places affected by religion-related tensions and conflict.

Güler Ates is best known for her photographs of mysterious figures in shimmering, diaphanous veils, drifting through opulent spaces. Here fabric takes a different form, drawn from donated and discarded children’s and baby clothes, too worn, damaged, or dirty to be used for charity. These castoff clothes offer a haunting reminder of children who have died—sometimes in their mothers’ arms—in journeys to escape conflict. Having suffered displacement from Eastern Turkey herself, the artist feels an acute empathy for refugees, and has created this work with the assistance of women from local refugee groups. In a new way, she returns to a question that emanates throughout her work: can we ever really know the person in front of us? Can we know their pain?