2016 Winner: How Many Syrians?

Project Information
How Many Syrians?
Arts
Intermedia ART 120 and ART 129
The widely publicized appearance of drowned toddler Aylan Kurdi on a Turkey shore brought the world’s attention to the plight of immigrating Syrians. His brother and mother drowned that day and all were survived by his father, Abdullah Kurdi, who said in a CNN interview: Is there anyone whose children are not valuable to them? The children enrapture you. They wake up, Daddy, Daddy, I want to play in the water. Everything is gone.

This series inquires into forced migration of Syrians from their homes. Humans are relentlessly being smuggled out of the country. Many are dying trying, many are children.

The de Young Museum in San Francisco, California will include the work titled How Many Syrians? #4 in the 20th Annual Student Showcase at the end of April this year. The piece includes life jackets piled on the floor appearing to be ordinary, though they are many times heavier than a genuine vest. They are made of welded steel and are as useless as those made of tenting and sponge materials found in a raid on a Turkish workshop 6 January, 2016. And, on 30 January, 37 migrants drowned off the Turkish coast, including 10 children.
Students
  • Rachel Maryam Smith (Porter)
Mentors