the unseenamerica exhibit

When I attended the unseenamerica NYS class, I did not anticipate so many would turn up at the refugee center to see the pictures. The pictures were hung in the hallway and it was like a journey of its own...offering a glimpse into a refugee's life in a strange land. The connections with the past were so visible...the eagerness to merge with the new also visible in the smiles.
And i went around comparing the similarities in my own little house with those in those haunting pictures.
The story was published in Utica Observer-Dispatch April 21. I am copying the text here.


Refugees capture lives through lens

By CHINKI SINHA
Observer-Dispatch
csinha@utica.gannett.com

UTICA- The photograph of a refugee sleeping at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees taken by Bosnian refugee Tatjana Kulalic touched Hamilton College student Rita Tran.
Tran was among those Friday taking in the unseenamerica NYS project on display at the refugee center. The caption of Kulalic's photo described how refugees are always waiting for something.
"It hit me that you are always waiting," Tran said. "The pictures are so simple yet they tell you a lot."
For many community members, the exhibit of about 50 photos shot by 15 refugees offered insight into the struggles of adapting to a new culture, new weather and new people. Hamilton College student Emily Powell said the pictures showed how hard it is for refugees trying to cross over to a different country and another culture.
unseenamerica NYS, a project that gives cameras to working-class people so they can document their lives, worked with refugees in the Utica area to put together the exhibit. It is open for public viewing until Memorial Day.
The pictures show everyday life in a refugee household, pictures of snow and the city of Utica.
Sylvia Wilson, a visiting chaplain from Atlanta at Hamilton College, said she had heard of the strong refugee presence in the area. She learned about their lives through the photos that hung in the hallway at the refugee center.
"They are beautiful snapshots of these people and their lives," she said.
All the pictures had captions underneath them written by refugees describing the scene or the context.
Joan Carlon, who came from Syracuse, said the descriptions were powerful.
"It is compelling ... to give up everything and try to change," she said.
Connie Frisbee Houde, a photographer who helped with the project, said she loved the diversity communicated through the descriptions.
"You get a view into the person who took these," she said. "They are looking at it in a different way."
Utica is home to many refugees from around the world, and refugees make up about 15 percent of the city's population. Through projects such as unseenamerica NYS, the refugee center is trying to showcase the region's new residents to the community, said Daniel Sargent, director of multicultural affairs at the center.
One of the refugee center's missions is to help refugees lead a dignified life and Sargent said the exhibit supports that mission. A refugee's life is not just about struggles, and they can be artists, too, he said.
"It is going to add sophistication to the refugees," he said. "Rarely do we see refugees having a sublime vision."
Sidi Chivala, whose pictures were on display, said he was excited to see so many people at the show.
To him, the photographs served as a bridge to the community and helped local residents understand where refugees are coming from.
"People know who I am," he said. "Now they will have a background."