Action

The silence of the 65 million refugees is a humiliation for those of us with a voice. (80)

This is a human-created problem. Humans created it, so we must solve it. (16)

It’s never too late to do something. (20)

We all have to understand that humanity, and liberty, needs to be defended by each generation. (115)

I don’t care what people think. My work belongs to the people who have no voice. (116)

We’re spoiled by contemporary life; we forget other people still in suffering and in pain and who need help. (117)

If you look away, you are complicit. (43)

As long as someone fights and helps, the fight is not lost. (46)

It is the duty of an artist to connect himself or herself to social change, to bear responsibility, to be part of the change. (118)

I want people to be emotionally involved. The hope is for individuals to realize these refugees relate to our normal life and that we have a responsibility to act. (31)

To live so comfortably while other people are in desperate situations, that surprises me. It’s not a refugee problem. It’s a human crisis, and it includes the people that can help but don’t help. (119)

We have to protect other people just like we have to protect ourselves. Otherwise, anyone can be refugees. (117)

This is a very historical moment from any perspective. As an artist I want to be more involved, I want to create artworks in relation to the refugee crisis and create some kind of consciousness about the situation. (120)

If we’re not happy with the way things are, we should do something to create a better world for our children. Otherwise parenthood is a joke. (47)

Even if I gave all of my money to the refugees, it would not help them. But spreading knowledge—letting other people know what’s happening—I think that is most important. (121)

You really have to be emotionally and physically involved, otherwise you become superficial and you just sit in your own little world and read the news. (26)

We have to understand that the situation is not really about refugees. It is about all of us. I think the solution takes individuals to act, to be involved, to push the politicians, to create the right discussion. We can all start from ourselves. (51)

If you want to do something, today there are a million ways to do it with the internet. We can find a community or a non-governmental organization or volunteers who are working on the front line in extremely difficult conditions. (122)

It’s very important to do something, like a documentary or something on the internet. These things, like weather, gradually change the temperature and will build some kind of movement. (81)

I don’t need anything. I just want to burn myself out. It’s life; you better use it. (123)

Today, I still have a big voice in talking about human rights and freedom of speech. I hope I can create a better condition for my son’s generation so that he doesn’t have to put up the same kind of fight as his father and his grandfather did. (93)

Art has to be involved with moral, philosophical, and intellectual conversations. If you call yourself an artist, this is your responsibility. (124)

The politicians are the ones who we think can make some difference. But of course they will not make a difference if the citizens or the individuals do not push them or speak out. This is not acceptable. (23)

We have to remember we have no choice. We’re either on the right side or on the wrong side. (105)

Be more involved. Take responsibility. Provide yourself opportunities at the same time that you provide opportunities to others. (1)

Today, I feel that as an individual I must make an effort to make people more conscious that refugees are not different from us in any way. They are not terrorists, and to portray them as such is really terroristic thinking. They are just human beings and their pain, their joy, their sense of safety, and sense of justice is no different from ours. (83)

The refugee crisis is a human crisis. We all have a responsibility in this. (125)

I had to be there or else I would be speechless. I would not be entitled to talk about the situation because I wouldn’t know it. I had to meet the refugees, I had to look at them face-to-face, ask them questions, make some jokes with them: it’s the only way to understand the situation. Otherwise I would be scared or mad or threatened for the rest of my life. (4)

You realize how all these refugees are being humiliated and vilified. If you have a conscience, you react to this state of affairs. (126)

It’s just the persistence to still take one more step. And one more step. (127)

If you feel, “This is senseless,” then you shut off because the crisis is getting too big, you cannot do anything about it. That is the most dangerous moment. (128)

I try to look at change from an ecological or biochemical point of view. It’s like cells mutating. Very small individual changes can lead to social change. (129)

The only reason the crisis exists today is because people don’t act, because they’ve given up their right to act. This has become a real potential crisis in humanity: the one who’s privileged refusing to act. (122)

During change, human rights, human dignity and free speech have to be protected. Otherwise, we’ll be going backward. (60)

If you can, you have to help. (46)

I feel powerful when I’m defending essential values such as human rights. But these things require everybody to act. (130)

How many times do people shrug their shoulders and say, “What can we do?” A society is always composed of groups of individuals. You can influence other people and make your voice heard. It would be a shame if we had to confess to our children that we did nothing. That we pretended that we knew nothing. Or that we had no power. Come on! We have great power. (54)

These are not tragedies, but man-made consequences of war. If we continue to deliver weapons to these areas, if we blaze those wars, refugees are the result. And I’ve tried to find a language to make those who otherwise have no voice be heard. And to be heard by those who are so often deaf. People often feel that the refugees have nothing to do with their lives at all. It’s all so far away. So they turn their faces away. My job is to turn your gaze. (131)

It takes individuals to have a voice, to push the political leaders. (132)

I feel optimistic because if you see human development it always comes from struggles, and that struggle takes a lot of individuals to become conscious and to act. (132)

We all have a short life. We have only a moment to speak out or to use what little skills we have. If everybody does that, maybe the temperature changes. (87)

I wanted to do anything possible to not only support and honor the people who are still living and who have died, but as a reminder that this is something happening all over the world. (125)

I think in a civil society, everybody needs to act. (37)

It’s in my blood to try to be different, or to try to create my own form or language, to define my world. (39)

Indifference does not liberate us, but instead cuts us off from reality. (39)