Refugees and students combine for Sharjah art exhibition

A portable shelter made from recyclable materials by Syrian refugees is on display at Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation to address humanitarian aid issues and the needs of displaced people. The art exhibition, designed by refugees now living in Jordan, serves as a reminder of wider issues around recycling, climate change and the over production of textiles and resulting environmental damage. Artist and architectural historian Dr Azra Aksamija worked on the installation alongside the refugees and a team of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in America. The team constructed a four-metre-high tent, inspired by ancient portable Ottoman palaces, as a space for refugees from the Al Azraq refugee camp in Jordan to meet and share their experiences, for storage and for insulation. Situated east of Amman, the camp is home to more than 30,000 refugees who fled the nearby Syrian civil war. An example of the tent is now on show in Sharjah. “Art brought us together to share experiences and find unorthodox ways of approaching contemporary issues,” said Dr Aksamija, who is of Bosnian and Austrian descent. "While providing aid to those in need, the art encourages people to talk about these issues. "These artistic inventions highlight the social, cultural and environmental responsibility of design to address the real needs of people who have lost their home, history, and identity." The tent is similar in design to more traditional corrugated steel humanitarian shelters. It is produced using recycled fabrics with support from Sharjah Museums Authority and other humanitarian institutions and the product of a three-year long research project in tandem with MIT’s Future Heritage Lab and the German Jordanian University. Recycled clothes like jeans and wool blankets have been sewn in a reverse appliqué technique - stitching two fabrics together - to form the canopy of the shelter. The exhibition named T-Serai, an acronym for Textile Systems for Engagement and Research in Alternative Impact, reflects a culturally sensitive approach to humanitarian intervention via textile arts and crafts. "Using these materials focuses on the social and environmental cost of our clothes, as making one pair of Jeans needs about 2,000 gallons of water," said Dr Aksamija. "T-Serai is a visual argument to say it's not enough to provide just a shelter above a refugee's head and offer food. “We can do better. Humanitarian aid needs to include preserving human dignity and culture.” Dr Aksamija hopes the project will improve the understanding of issues faced by refugees every day, by uniting students to create art and deconstruct boundaries between demographic groups. The exhibition will be on show at Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation until December 7. "Maybe this will impact the way in which humanitarian aid is planned in the future," said Dr Aksamija. "Hopefully aid can one day consider the cultural and emotional needs of displaced people, if those making decisions are more informed through a refugee's voice delivered by art. "Our co-operation with SMA is because of their great efforts in connecting different cultures and establishing an open human dialogue." Parallel productions of T-serai tapestries will also take place at the Al Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan. There, refugee students have been learning via an online course provided by FHL in design, sewing, textile industry history and art. The students will also be commissioned to complete shelter improvements for their fellow refugees. Manal Ataya, head of SMA, hopes the Sharjah exhibition will highlight the importance of cultural institutions and the role they play in providing resources for artists and academics to conduct valuable research. "Museums and cultural institutions need to contribute more actively in showcasing artworks that highlight pressing current issues whether environmental, political or social concerns," she said. "As museums we can assist artists to help communities rethink and learn about these concerns in a way that encourages discussions and most importantly, encourages action." The display is open weekdays from 8am to 8pm, and 4pm to 8pm on Fridays.

Refugees and students combine for Sharjah art exhibition

Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation is highlighting humanitarian causes via its recycled tent display