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Ammon News - By John Hoffman

AMMONNEWS - Dar Alanda art gallery on Wednesday hosted REFUGE, a series of paintings and photographs created as part of a month-long series of art projects inside Zaatari camp.

The projects were the brainchild of AptART, a group of international activists attempting to provide creative outlets for marginalized children and youth worldwide, and ACTED, an NGO which helps provide clean water and sanitation to Zaatari's residents. The exhibition featured works created by Syrian and international artists in collaboration with over 500 children living in Zaatari.

The exhibition consisted of several different projects: youth artwork, photographs of community art in Zaatari, and original artwork by the project organizers. Along with the artwork on display at Dar Alanda, AptART completed several larger-scale projects within Zaatari, painting murals on the sides of tents and buildings with the intention of improving the shared spaces and creating a sense of ownership. The group also documented other street art in Zaatari.

For the youth project “Bukra” children were given charcoal and paint and told to draw anything they would like to see in their lives tomorrow. The colorful results: psychedelic paintings of birds and dogs in bright pinks, greens, and blues which sharply contrasted with another project on display in which children had been asked to draw images of Zaatari camp itself. The paintings of life in Zaatari featured flat scenes of water trucks and UN tents in monochromatic browns or blues.

“It's wonderful to have so much community support,” remarked AptART's head of project Samantha Robison, mentioning that in the face of pressing sanitation, security, and education problems, funding for these sorts of projects is not always so supported by the community.

The exhibit also featured work from three AptART artists. Jamana Holkan, a Syrian watercolorist currently studying at Oxford, left Syria herself roughly one year ago. Her watercolor series highlighted isolation through its use of white space and dark tones. Luc Van Dar Walt, a South African artist, has worked previously with AptART programs targeting former child soldiers and raising HIV/AIDS awareness in Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique respectively. Robison showcased photographs of both life in Zaatari camp and southern Syria.

The ongoing project began in early June and will continue through mid July.