Rain Refuge

A dedication to refugee fathers and the impossible sacrifices made by parents surviving war and adversity. This painting is of a Syrian refugee carrying his child through the rain, on the long journey from Syria to Europe. The red and collapsing Arabic text is written by Palestinian poet Ghassan Kanafani: “A homeland does not have to be a vast space of land, but can be in the in the space between two shoulders”. The text disintegrates towards the bottom of the painting to showcase the stress and struggles of holding together those pieces of home, especially when families are torn apart by war and conflict.

"الوطن ليس شرطاً أن يكون أرضاً كبيرة ، فقد يكون مساحة صغيرة جدًّا حدودها كتفين" - غسان كنفاني

The photo, taken by Yannis Behrakis, won Reuters' photo of the year in 2016