Newcomers: Transition Into A New Life (2013)
As one of a handful of U.S. cities that host refugee resettlement in 2013, Buffalo, New York welcomed over 3000 refugees from countries like Burma, Somalia, and Bhutan. I had the great fortune of welcoming them as an ESL instructor for Buffalo Public Schools Adult Education Division. Each of person—whose native cultures, ideas, and languages are largely unfamiliar to the region’s predominantly European and African American ethnic base—add to the beauty, diversity, and material success of a “Rust Belt” city on the mend.
Great care was taken, with the help of translators to ensure that each of the 200 individuals photographed understood the project and the intended uses of their image both online and in public exhibition. This series represents a small portion of the portraits collected. Each person photographed received a print and digital copy of their portrait, regardless.
Newcomers exhibited in a street facing storefront exhibition in Buffalo's Allentown neighborhood, Castellani Art Museum, Mary Lou Vogt Gallery at Canisius College and Springville Arts Center
http://www.elmuseobuffalo.org/exhibitions/newcomers-allentown-storefront-exhibition/
