| Photo from the BGSU exhibit ‘Here, There and Elsewhere’ (Photo by John Ruebartsch) |
"Here, There and Elsewhere: Refugee Families in Milwaukee," photo-documentary exhibit opening
Friday in Bowling Green State University’s Bowen-Thompson Student Union Art Gallery focuses on the daily
lives of some of the newest Americans. After fleeing civil war, political persecution and ethnic strife
in countries such as Burma, Somalia and Laos, these newcomers are rebuilding their lives and cultures
here as generations of immigrants did before.
Through documentary photos by John Ruebartsch and Sally Kuzma and the words of the refugees themselves,
the intimate family portraits in are a vivid reminder that all Americans were once newcomers to the New
World.
The project began as a collaboration between Ruebartsch, a Milwaukee-based photographer and
documentarian, and Kuzma, an English as a Second Language teacher and visual artist. Since 2009, they
have been visiting, interviewing and documenting the lives of refugees.
Dr. Bruce Collet, an assistant professor in the School of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy,
has organized a panel discussion from Friday from 3 to 5 p.m. in 315 Union, preceding the opening
reception for the exhibit.
In addition to Collet and Ruebartsch, the panel will include Jihan Daman, a psychiatric/clinical
therapist who is an Iraqi refugee and works with refugee children and families in Southfield, Mich., and
Julie Didelot, a Ph.D. student in sociology at BGSU who is writing her dissertation on gender and
asylum.
The free exhibit runs through April 3.
