The Culmination of a Year and a Half of Creative Work

Hi friends,
There is so much evil lurking in the world…it’s tempting to allow myself to get paralyzed with fear or doubt in a supremely loving God.  But it’s now, more than ever, that we need examples of peace-keeping efforts to flood our news feeds.  We must be intentional. We need to dwell on all that is good, holy, praise-worthy and noble. (Phil 4:8)
It’s in that spirit that I want to share with you the culmination of a year and half of creative work between myself and photographer, Ashley St.Clair.  For over a year we have interviewed, photographed and shared life with recently resettled refugees in Austin.  We named our project, “Refugee is not My Name.”  The theme of our work is that all refugees share that label, but they each have a name. They are as special, unique and complicated as you and me.  They are as fiercely loved by God as my own children.  Do you believe that? I do!
Tribeza magazine ran a sample of our project in their community issue this month. If you haven’t yet, would you please read my article and short stories of these refugees?
http://tribeza.com/refugee-is-not-my-name/

But Ashley and I have always planned that our project would be a complete gallery exhibit.  And it’s happening next month here in Austin! On Thursday, March 22 from 5-8pm our project will be on full display at The Gallery at Lewis Carnegie. Come sip wine, gaze at stunning portrait photographs of refugees from 13 different countries, ranging from children to adults.  Let you heart by refueled by the enduring human spirit.  Let your compassion be reignited in a world gone mad with fear and violence.
Be there to give me a hug and let us spur one another on toward these three things which remain: faith, hope and love.  Get tickets for the exhibit here:

http://refugeeisnotmyname.com
Here’s a behind the scenes photo from an interview Ashley and I did with Aya, a refugee from Syria.  She and her family are so thrilled that she’ll get a good education now that they are resettled in Austin. She wants to be a pediatrician one day.

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