(Dogan Agecny)- Syrian children in Turkey marked the 4th Istanbul Children and Youth Arts Biennial with their projects urging "right to education" and "secure living conditions", d during arts and music activities of Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM).
Children who have attended the opening of the Biennial on Tuesday, displayed three works, including a road installation project where they expressed their mass displacement from Syria. The road installation was made up of faces that the children produced by using wires, fabrics, strings and other materials. The project also related to the theme of this year's Biennial, "Wake up call".
Creators of the second project, "Let's Wake up to Rights and Awareness" aimed to reflect on fundamental problems that refugee children face, including "difficulty to access right to education" and "adequate living conditions". A kite that was decorated with school materials such as books and schoolbags was held by a boy and a girl made up of sculptures, in this art project.
Artist Meryem Tomak, who has coordinated the project, told Doğan News Agency (DHA) that she has observed great positive effects on these children, whose ages range between 8 and 16. Participants of the art and video workshops have spared a significant part of their time for the preparations, she said. Most of these children also share their experiences and enthusiasm for art and music with their friends in their schools, Tomak added.
Syrian refugee children underlined that the project entitled "Let's Wake up to Rights and Awareness" made reference to all children in the world, who were left deprived of right to education and were forced to be child brides or workers.
16-year-old Menar, who have fled Damascus and came to Turkey two years ago, is among the children who have come up with the idea of making a kite with figures reminding of school, as well as images representing child marriage and child labor.
She told DHA how the idea came up, saying "These are the exact handicaps that we face. After all, we have come from inside a war, and our biggest problem is education".
According to Menar, another significant problem of Syrian refugee children and youth in Turkey is "trust". Menar thinks "people in Turkey do not like Syrians, neither trust them".
Another creator of the work, 12-year-old Roz has come from Hasakah two years ago. Her favorite social activity is "painting, painting and painting" she told DHA with passion. Roz’s father is also painting.
Roz said that she wanted to go back to her home country Syria, adding she also admires Turkey's cities as well as being close to the sea in Istanbul.
Having explained that she struggles to go out on streets and play games outside, Roz added that she cannot understand lectures as they are given in Turkish.
"When I do not understand the courses, I draw" she said, having been trying to develop her Turkish. She wants to become a painter when she grows up and she attends art activities with ASAM in her free time.
The sculpture shows a boy and her older sister holding hands, after they fled war in Syria, Roz said. According to the Syrian young girl, the paintings on the kite represent "buildings demolished" while the green colors and trees represent the "right to play".
"No school, no permit to work. Some of my friends' fathers do not let them to go to school. I have friends who work, while some others are forced to get married" she urged.
The third project of Syrian children was a hip-hop music project called "I woke up in a Foreign Country", which was supported by the music group “Tahribad-ı İsyan”. The studio record that is exhibited within the Biennial's video-art section is based on lyrics written by these children. The aim of the project was to emphasize "the universal language of music and dance" through the "protest standing of hip-hop" to awareness for rights of Syrian refugees and other children. The project reflects on "the universality of the effects of war" said the group.
Language is "the key to communication" said the children, pointing out that major difficulties stem from not speaking the local language in Turkey.
Juwan, who is a 13-year-old boy wearing a hip-hop style hat, told DHA that he likes going to school and he enjoys math classes the most. "I like playing football with my friends. There is a football ground in Kasımpaşa" he said, referring to Istanbul's quarter within the Beyoğlu district.
A friend of Juwan on the football ground, 12-year-old Fawzi told he has come from Aleppo. Fawzi has a sister, his mother does not work, and he cannot tell what his father does to earn the family's bread. According to Fawzi, the road installation in the exhibition represents their own journey from Syria.
Syrian children told that the facial expressions seen on the faces that were made up from wires represent certain differences.
"It is because some of us came here unhappy, while some of us came with joy" they told.
The exhibition of ASAM, which displays art and video works of Syrian children produced during social activities in cooperation with United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), can be visited inside Istanbul Modern's Antrepo 1, until May 22.
Children who have attended the opening of the Biennial on Tuesday, displayed three works, including a road installation project where they expressed their mass displacement from Syria. The road installation was made up of faces that the children produced by using wires, fabrics, strings and other materials. The project also related to the theme of this year's Biennial, "Wake up call".
Creators of the second project, "Let's Wake up to Rights and Awareness" aimed to reflect on fundamental problems that refugee children face, including "difficulty to access right to education" and "adequate living conditions". A kite that was decorated with school materials such as books and schoolbags was held by a boy and a girl made up of sculptures, in this art project.
Artist Meryem Tomak, who has coordinated the project, told Doğan News Agency (DHA) that she has observed great positive effects on these children, whose ages range between 8 and 16. Participants of the art and video workshops have spared a significant part of their time for the preparations, she said. Most of these children also share their experiences and enthusiasm for art and music with their friends in their schools, Tomak added.
Syrian refugee children underlined that the project entitled "Let's Wake up to Rights and Awareness" made reference to all children in the world, who were left deprived of right to education and were forced to be child brides or workers.
16-year-old Menar, who have fled Damascus and came to Turkey two years ago, is among the children who have come up with the idea of making a kite with figures reminding of school, as well as images representing child marriage and child labor.
She told DHA how the idea came up, saying "These are the exact handicaps that we face. After all, we have come from inside a war, and our biggest problem is education".
According to Menar, another significant problem of Syrian refugee children and youth in Turkey is "trust". Menar thinks "people in Turkey do not like Syrians, neither trust them".
Another creator of the work, 12-year-old Roz has come from Hasakah two years ago. Her favorite social activity is "painting, painting and painting" she told DHA with passion. Roz’s father is also painting.
Roz said that she wanted to go back to her home country Syria, adding she also admires Turkey's cities as well as being close to the sea in Istanbul.
Having explained that she struggles to go out on streets and play games outside, Roz added that she cannot understand lectures as they are given in Turkish.
"When I do not understand the courses, I draw" she said, having been trying to develop her Turkish. She wants to become a painter when she grows up and she attends art activities with ASAM in her free time.
The sculpture shows a boy and her older sister holding hands, after they fled war in Syria, Roz said. According to the Syrian young girl, the paintings on the kite represent "buildings demolished" while the green colors and trees represent the "right to play".
"No school, no permit to work. Some of my friends' fathers do not let them to go to school. I have friends who work, while some others are forced to get married" she urged.
The third project of Syrian children was a hip-hop music project called "I woke up in a Foreign Country", which was supported by the music group “Tahribad-ı İsyan”. The studio record that is exhibited within the Biennial's video-art section is based on lyrics written by these children. The aim of the project was to emphasize "the universal language of music and dance" through the "protest standing of hip-hop" to awareness for rights of Syrian refugees and other children. The project reflects on "the universality of the effects of war" said the group.
Language is "the key to communication" said the children, pointing out that major difficulties stem from not speaking the local language in Turkey.
Juwan, who is a 13-year-old boy wearing a hip-hop style hat, told DHA that he likes going to school and he enjoys math classes the most. "I like playing football with my friends. There is a football ground in Kasımpaşa" he said, referring to Istanbul's quarter within the Beyoğlu district.
A friend of Juwan on the football ground, 12-year-old Fawzi told he has come from Aleppo. Fawzi has a sister, his mother does not work, and he cannot tell what his father does to earn the family's bread. According to Fawzi, the road installation in the exhibition represents their own journey from Syria.
Syrian children told that the facial expressions seen on the faces that were made up from wires represent certain differences.
"It is because some of us came here unhappy, while some of us came with joy" they told.
The exhibition of ASAM, which displays art and video works of Syrian children produced during social activities in cooperation with United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), can be visited inside Istanbul Modern's Antrepo 1, until May 22.
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