World Refugee Day Youth Art Exhibition

World Refugee Day Youth Art Exhibition Brings Colour to Porirua’s North City Shopping Centre

A group of Bishop Viard College Years 7, 8 and 9 students are Porirua’s newest artists. Ten refugee-background youth from Columbia and Myanmar have participated in an art workshop at Wellesley College resulting in the creation of colourful pieces that will be displayed at the North City Shopping Centre in Porirua. The exhibition, entitled ‘The Arrival – What it Means to be a Refugee’, can be seen from 15-23 June 2015 at North City’s centre stage. The show will be opened by Porirua Councillor Izzy Ford on Wednesday 17 June at 6:00pm, and will include a dance performance from the Columbian community. All are welcome to attend.

The annual project, now in its fifth year, is facilitated by Refugee Trauma Recovery in conjunction with Wellesley College, and coincides with World Refugee Day on 20 June 2015, a day dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world. The students are guided each year by a theme which is set by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. The 2015 theme is ‘Refugees are ordinary people who are living through extraordinary circumstances’. We hope to engage and educate those who have limited or no understanding about refugees and to make the refugee experience a little more tangible and accessible for the public.

Refugee Trauma Recovery (RTR) is a regional, specialist mental health service for refugees who have experienced trauma and torture. Additionally RTR offers a number of community programmes designed to help former refugees settle into their lives in New Zealand.

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