Every refugee in this world is forced out, like a tree pulled out of the ground by a storm. (59)
Most refugees are not seeking money—they’re seeking understanding. They have no future. (101)
With all these people, many refugees later become Einstein, Kandinsky, musicians, artists and great scientists. (49)
This problem has such a long history, a human history. We are all refugees somehow, somewhere and at some moment. (102)
The refugees are very brave. They give up everything, they come to this land. Now in this land, every door is shut. (103)
I became involved with the subject of refugees because I am conscious of how these people have been mistreated, neglected and displaced. I know what it is like to be viewed as an outcast. (84)
I am a refugee, every bit. Those people are me. That’s my identity. (87)
My father was exiled and I grew up in the camps. We faced all kinds of discrimination and unfair treatment, so I have a natural understanding of people being seen as different. (105)
I know what it is like to be viewed as a pariah, as sub-human, as a threat and danger to society. (67)
The refugees are brave people who are willing to leave everything they know and go out into the unknown to find better lives. They are not beggars, they have dignity, they have dreams. (91)
The migrants have to go through mountains, they have to jump into boats—there is no time to wash. They have to throw away dirty stuff. There’s nothing artistic about it. It’s daily life. It’s human struggle. (42)
Almost everyone in America are the children of immigrants at one point in history, and I think people should continue to honor, accordingly, any refugees with the courage to come to this land. (95)
You see all the refugees we interviewed for two years now. They’re still living in the camp. You can see the future is very dark. (23)
Most surprising is not that the refugees have been victimized, but that they’re continuously being victimized when they step into the so-called safe zone, which is Europe. (105)
Who wants to leave their home? Nobody. The refugees are established, they have their own neighborhood, they have their career, they have their language, and they have memories that no money can buy back. They have given up everything. (49)
I have a natural understanding of people who are forced to leave their home. They’re constantly feeling uncertainty and distrust. (106)
Most of the refugees come from Syria. Some come from Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. You cannot really track where they are going; they are like water pushed through a pipe, flowing to different locations and destinies. (45)
The refugees are transparent, nobody recognizes them even as refugees. (107)
As humans, we will never settle. The more intelligent we become, the more motivated we become. (108)
These refugees are dealing with this struggle today and probably into the distant future. We see them struggle with their whole hearts and minds, bravely and with imagination, but also with a lot of sorrow and a lot of sadness and a lot of shame. (26)
When I first came to Lesbos, we found a half sunken boat there. I asked to be taken to it and sent the other people away. I wanted to experience what it was like to be there alone. I felt what it was like to be on a poorly equipped boat, all by myself, as an insect on a leaf in the middle of the lake. (109)
The world has different kinds of refugees. Some were expelled and had to flee their country, but many refugees get locked into a place and will never have the chance to move freely. (41)
The refugees are very brave and capable and determined to establish a new life. They are not interested in somebody giving them mercy or money. They are very proud people with great dignity. They understand life more than most people. But who is going to have them? Or make it possible for them to restart? (9)
Since humans have existed, humans have migrated. It’s a major force of civilization. That’s how we have become so intelligent, mixed, and more tolerant. (110)
I believe in involvement. Almost every art piece that I’ve made was shown in places where there are human rights violations. Only by being directly involved in these situations can one change people’s minds. (74)
The global so-called current refugee crisis is not so current. Our civilization has always had people moved around, kicked around, rejected, put in desperate situations. (96)
I feel connected to the people who have lost their homes and given up everything, who took their children by the hand and said, “Let’s forget everything.” It is not an easy decision to go to another country that has another religion, another language. (46)
I have so much curiosity. What is it like? Why have they been pushed away? What is the reason for them to give up everything to come to a land where nothing is the same as before: language, race, or religion? (111)
Only in the most extreme conditions you see how broken this world is. (35)
To be a refugee, by definition, is not because you’re economically poor but because you’re facing danger in your homeland and have been pushed out. High society persons can still be refugees. (61)
I think that by using “refugee” as a word, it’s already separating them from normal human conditions. We always see them as part of the problem, or a potential problem, or even in some extreme cases we call them a danger to our life. This has very much dehumanized their condition. (37)
Refugees, for me, are not an original problem. It’s a human struggle that has lasted as long as humans have existed, even before there were nations. (39)
These refugee camps are worse than prisons. In prison you can do labor, but these people are invisible. They have no identity, they have the same story, they have the same past, and they nearly all have the same future. (112)