Since 2010, the Polus Center for Social & Economic Development has been aiding in providing rehabilitation services to civilians wounded as a result of the ongoing Syrian war. Most recently, in cooperation with the Sir Bobby Charlton Centre for Support & Rehabilitation in Amman, Jordan, this focus has been on providing prosthetic rehabilitation services and psychological trauma care for Syrian refugee children who have managed to cross the Jordanian border. Many of these children have lost limbs, one or both parents, and sometimes even their entire families. If left unsupported, these children will carry with them the debilitating scars of profound brutality and loss. The Polus Center’s hope is to draw attention and resources to the challenges they face.
Dark to Light – A Syrian Child’s Journey is a traveling exhibition of expressive paintings on loan from some of these child refugees. Its intent is to highlight the transformative impact that expressive therapy can have on the rehabilitation process of children experiecing multiple traumas. These images reveal a continuum of recovery reflecting powerful emotions the children feel, but often do not have the words to express. Over the course of the therapeutic process the subject matter slowly shifts its focus from dark to light, death to life. As hope emerges it reveals a depth of resilience, courage, and optimism for the future that, if supported, will carry each child through the healing process placing them firmly along the road to recovery.
Mystic Museum of Art is proud to be the third stop on this international tour, previously on display in Northampton, Massachusetts and at the House of Commons in London.
Prints of the original work on display will be available for purchase, with all proceeds going to the Polus Center to continue funding this endeavor.
Dark to Light will be on view at MMoA’s 15 Water Street Gallery.
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 5:30 – 7:30pm