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As I continue my own journey, now into the twelfth year, documenting the Arab Spring and the ongoing war in Syria, my work has grown to include other countries and people facing displacement, migration and war.

Though my background is from the Middle East, and I have primarily focused on the war in Syria, the wars in Ukraine and Sudan are ever present in the news. The hardships people face under grueling circumstances, as they flee their homes from violence, economic insecurity or climate change, affect everyone regardless of their home country.

In this exhibition, I include my ongoing installation, “The Places They’ll Go.” Children’s shoes that I have painted, that hold both the power to run from danger, yet also run towards their dreams. With the most vulnerable crossing borders, both by land and sea, I hope to create an intimacy with the viewer, almost as if we are stepping into their shoes as they try to seek safety.

In my new installation, “Border Cross/ings,” I have painted wood tiles with patterns inspired from many different countries. These “crosses” memorialize the countless men, women and children who have lost their lives in search of a safe place to live, as well as showing both the beauty and dignity they represent.

Symbols that memorialize, shoes that help us run from danger, women, left behind to pick up the pieces, I ask the viewer to lean in close, to think about these people caught in such untenable situations and realize the difference between them and us is only one word. Luck.