Author/illustrator Erik Thurman is an award-nominated creator who specializes in long-form comics journalism and nonfiction comics about current events. On August 1st, 2016, the political comics/cartoons website The Nib published his comic on the Myanmar Rohingya refugee crisis, which can be read in full here.
“The history of departures from the Polish lands is hundreds of years old. People traveled to different parts of the world for sustenance, in search of freedom, or for a different life. After Poland regained its independence, this situation remained unchanged. The journey was tackled on foot, by rail, aboard ships or – later – …
More than 500 children live in the refugee camp at Calais, France, which is today a growing town at the mouth of the Chunnel. The majority of these children are unaccompanied by parents or guardians. Life in the so-called “Jungle” is painful and tentative for them: According to Help Refugees, 129 children could not be …
This project is by MSNBC in partnership with Magnum Photos The largest flow of modern African migration funnels through a single country — Libya. Coming from the south, migrants flee the vestiges of wars that have left entire nations in ruin. From the east, they escape a life of indefinite military servitude and violent conflict. …
The short documentary Stitches is the story of a man who finds peace in knitting —after establishing a life in exile as an Afghan refugee during the Soviet–Afghan War. The subject is the filmmaker Abdullah Abo Jassin’s uncle, who writes, “His story connects in a way with all what my family has been through over …
“The artist Francis Alÿs is exploring the idea of a film about children playing in the refugee camps he visited in northern Iraq at the end of February. The Belgian-born, Mexico City-based artist was on his first research trip to the region, where he filmed and took photographs of children playing games such as marbles …
“Immigrant Nation explores our connections to immigration, past and present, through storytelling. At the heart of the project is a simple idea: the U.S. is a nation shaped by immigration, and most families have personal story about it. These stories, whether they happened generations ago or quite recently, are not often shared. We want to bring them …
“The conflict in Syria has now displaced 12 million people, creating the largest wave of refugees to hit Europe since World War II. But in the last half century, other events around the world have pushed even larger numbers of people to flee war and persecution. Here’s a brief guide to the major refugee events …
MEDITERRANEA by Jonas Carpignano, USA 2015: Ayiva recently left his home in Burkina Faso in search of a way to provide for his sister and his daughter. He takes advantage of his position in an illegal smuggling operation to get himself and his best friend Abas off of the continent. Ayiva adapts to life in …
“The last podcast published on Archipelago is a conversation with Tings Chak, Toronto-based migrant justice organizer (as part of the organization No One Is Illegal for example), as well as a multidisciplinary designer. Tings is about to publish a graphic-essay book entitled Undocumented: The Architecture of Migrant Detention (The Architecture Observer, 2014) that articulates the two aspects of her work as an organizer …
“’An Alternative Handbook for Refugee Camp Design’ responds to increases in both the number of refugees worldwide and the number of years refugees spend in camps. While not all refugees live in camps, the focus of my research and design proposal is on camp models designed for 20,000 people (as per the UNHCR’s guidelines). Whereas …
“Problem: How can trends in architecture and urbanization in the daily lives of people respond to the forced migrations in Central America and everywhere through a recognition that they don’t happen in a vacuum but rather stem from root causes that force them? Why are so many people from Central America looking for a better life somewhere …
“The Forensic Oceanography project was launched in summer 2011 to support a coalition of NGOs demanding accountability for the deaths of migrants in the central Mediterranean Sea while that region was being tightly monitored by the NATO-led coalition intervening in Libya. The efforts were focused on what is now known as the “left-to-die boat” case, in …
“Design students have created a coat for refugees that can be reconfigured into a tent or a sleeping bag big enough to hold an adult and a child. The garment, which resembles a three-quarter length puffa jacket with a hood when worn, gives fresh meaning to the term “wearable technology”…” Read more
“My sister has asked me what my perspective is on the death of thousands of refugees in Europe this summer. Herewith. There is obviously a spatial aspect to the immigration crisis unfolding in Europe. The question is whether there is also an answer to be found in the framing, forming, and allocation of space. Some …
“From a vantage point here in Za’atari, a group of Syrian artists have taken it upon themselves to recreate miniature models of the monuments that have been ruined. In efforts to combat the feelings of outrage and helplessness, these painstaking recreations serve as an act of defiance. The original sites may be have been destroyed, …
“Since 2011, over 4 million Syrians have left their homes to avoid the civil war, with roughly 629,000 going to Jordan. A hundred thousand live in refugee camps there, including at the Middle East’s largest camp, the Za’atari. There, over half of the occupants are children, and it’s difficult to educate or train them, according to …
“For decades our television screens have been dominated by images of ragged people, hopelessly isolated within political limbo as destitute refugees. Movies describe refugee camps as exotic edge-of-the-earth locales full of victimized dark-skinned people. Magazines and websites occasionally release an article on a brand new shelter technology, solar stove, or water pump that is expected …
“In the last few months groups of refugees have been campaigning to attract attention to their precarious position. Currently their applications for asylum in the Netherlands have been rejected, but they are unable to return to their country of origin for various reasons. The most important tool of their struggle has been the creation of a …
“Refugee camps set up by governmental agencies, international organizations like the United Nations and the Red Cross, and NGOs provide a place for displaced people to temporarily access food, water, and shelter. Camps are often set up in an impromptu fashion, designed only to provide basic needs for a short period of time. Tents constructed …
“At the sprawling, city-like Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, the average Syrian refugee is expected to stay as long as 17 years. And yet despite that time frame, many people are living in canvas tents that can start to fall apart in months. The U.N. is starting to invest in longer-lived prefab housing, like clever …
“45.2 million people are currently displaced by conflict and persecution,according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR). The number accords with the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees articulation of a refugee as: an individual who has fled their country “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, …
“One fixture in the pictures that went round the world in the recent week of violent clashes outside a refugee shelter in Heidenau, Saxony, was the blue-and-yellow “Praktiker” sign, left over from the building’s days as a DIY center. It was repurposed by local authorities at short notice after heavy rain turned the refugee tent …
“In 2013 alone some 1 million people have poured out of Syria to escape a civil conflict that has been raging for over two years. The total number of Syrian refugees is well over 2 million, an unprecedented number and a disturbing reality that has put the host countries under immense infrastructural strain. Host countries …
“Most 21st century Americans live more like migrants or squatters than we would care to admit. The spaces we call “home” are generic, sometimes shockingly so. Very few of us live in a house custom-designed to our needs by an architect. The suburban landscape of cookiecutter houses is a literary cliché going back to the …
The earliest mosque-style building in Germany is the “Red Mosque” at Schwetzingen, built in 1779-1791 by a French architct for the Prince Elector of the Palatinate as part of a palace complex. Built at a time when the “Turkish” style was fashionable in Germany, it was never intended for prayer but later served religious purposes …
“The conflict in Syria has left 6.5 million people internally displaced and created more than 2.2 million refugees. The bulk are living in the neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, where the demands on humanitarian agencies and host governments are huge. Helping relieve this burden is the application of smart technologies.” Click here …
Sin Maletas is an ongoing multimedia journalistic project, started in 2016 by Mexican news outlet Lo Político, that seeks to create awareness of forced migration as a worldwide problem and acknowledge the positive contributions of refugees to the societies in which they live. The exiles interviewed in this project were selected based on the ranking …
“This week, the popular right-wing Polish magazine wSieci ran a cover that has offended a lot of people. Reason being: It features an image of a woman being grabbed at by numerous hairy arms, and the words: “The Islamic Rape of Europe.” The photograph—which, minus the hands, looks a lot like a stock image for …
Kunkush the cat was a beloved member of a family who became refugees when they fled Iraq for the safety of Europe. Travelling through Greece, cat and family became separated, sparking an international online search in hopes of reuniting them. This is Kunkush’s story: Credits: The Guardian Refugee cat’s epic journey to find family Refugee …
On the last day of New York Comic Con, Sana Amanat begins the annual Women of Marvel panel with what is now a yearly tradition. “How many of you want to make comics? Women, men, everybody — stand up right now,” she says. Young girls dressed as superheroes — there’s Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Thor, and …
Colombian television channel Canal Capital created “Relatos del Exilio”, an eleven-episode series that tells the stories of Colombians who were forced to change their lives when fleeing a conflict or individual persecution in the country. This is a journalistic video project that features the direct testimonies of ten citizens now scattered across the world, from Sweden to …
Set in the Domiz Syrian refugee camp in northern Iraq, Refugee Republic uses a mixture of illustration, photography, moving image, recorded sound and text to give viewers insight into the daily lives of the camp’s 58,000 refugees. The online experience was designed by Dutch agency Submarine Channel – a producer of web documentaries and motion comics – …
Maziad Aloush, a former school teacher fleeing the Syrian war, led his band of refugees through five countries—across the Mediterranean sea and through forests and around mountains—before they eventually disbanded near the border of Austria and Germany. Like so many of the hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring into Europe to escape war and deprivation, he …
Europe’s refugee crisis is growing more complicated by the day. European Union interior ministers are set to meet for emergency talks on Monday, after Germany was forced to reintroduce checks at its border with Austria to stem the continuing flow of refugees. But thousands of refugees determined to flee life-threatening situations at home continue to arrive …
Mohamad drives with one hand, squinting at the afternoon sun as his phone rings for the fifth time in the past half an hour. The lanky 25-year-old Syrian shrugs the mobile to his ear with one shoulder, scribbling numbers on a Post-it as he repeats them out loud: “$1,000 to Tripoli; $200 to Hiba’s family; …
They ran in the dark towards the Austria-Hungary border. Some had flashlights. Some scampered through the shadows. Some were registered under UN regulations, others were not. They did not know where they were going and they did not know what would happen to them. They ran, hungry, thirsty and blind. This was the scene when …
HALIFAX — Val Macdonald says it only took a few minutes before a little red notification popped up on her Facebook page after posting about donations for a Syrian refugee family. The privately-sponsored refugees arrived in British Columbia’s Comox Valley in October, but they needed some essential items. Macdonald, who helps run the Syrian Refugee Support …
Homeland Security is now trying to screen the social media accounts of Iraqi and Syrian refugee applicants, an agency chief said, as evidence emerges that immigration officers missed potential clues that foreign fighters left in cyberspace about their intentions. Leon Rodriguez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that screens refugees, told C-SPAN …
Refugees and migrants are scattered all across this island. They wash their clothes on the beach below the crumbling ramparts of a 1,400-year-old castle that once defended Lesbos. They camp in tents in the parks. At night, they trudge past bars and restaurants where Greeks drink ouzo and dine on grilled fish. But the wave …
Norway’s immigration authorities have launched an advertising campaign in print and social media to deter refugees from seeking asylum in the country, following the controversial campaigns launched in Denmark. The Norwegian directorate of immigration sent a message out on Twitter on Friday, and again on Monday morning, warning Afghans planning to cross the country’s northern …
Denmark has placed advertisements in four Lebanese newspapers announcing tighter regulations and cuts in provisions for asylum seekers. The advertisement published on Monday said that social assistance for newly arrived refugees was being reduced by up to 50 percent. Those granted temporary protection would not have the right to family reunification for the first year …
In July of 2013, 100 asylum seekers burned their shelters down in an Australian refugee processing center on Nauru Island. The incident drew attention to a new law made the same day in Australia banning “boat people” from living in the country. The government started an ad campaign in multiple pan-Asian languages to warn of …
In 2013 an official probe was launched into claims that the Home Office “Go Home or Face Arrest” advertisement campaign targeting illegal immigrants is racist and offensive. There was a formal investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) into the controversial posters, which are being driven around on two vans in six London boroughs. …
Advertising in connection with migration and refugees is not the first thing that comes to mind, but the connection goes back to the beginnings of modern migration in the 18th century. In recent years, unlike the advertising of the past in which trading ships and companies extolled the virtues of “the new world” to would-be …
It reads like the website of a travel agency. “A trip to Italy next week in a big fast tourist yacht,” says the Facebook post beneath a picture of a luxury ocean liner. “Two floors, air-conditioned, prepared for tourists. Recommended for families.” But a package holiday this is not. It is the Facebook page of a …
The global money-transfer industry makes huge profits by charging a fee to transfer money to another country as well as off of exchange rates. For illegal immigrants who don’t have proper identification, it’s almost impossible for wire transfer companies to “know their customers.” Globalisation has created a demand for a cheap and mobile labour force, …
There is a wide-ranging effort by Australia to discourage refugees from going to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. On the shores of Indonesia, billboard messages written in Dari let ‘boat people’ know that all illegal routes to Australia are closed to Afghans. Can these campaigns work on would-be migrants, when the conditions causing them to leave …
The language of advertising to recruit, and more recently, to de-recruit, immigrants provides a mostly unexamined aspect of the rationales provided for why people move. Negative advertising about one’s own country as a means to deter refugees and migrants from seeking asylum there is a new development in the ongoing story of human migration and …
