Artistic expression of refugee problems

ABSTRACT Throughout history, migration has multiple causes. Natural or artificial, causes of migration always lead to disaster. Especially, wars have always been known for destruction in history. Wars, which handled socially, politically, economically, and historically, are one of the focus areas where art witnesses every age. It is obvious that art, which plays important role as an archive in history with visual records it transfers to historical sources, is versatile and pragmatic. The recent Syrian war and the accompanying refugee problem have been important and common problems of the globalizing world. The refugee problem has multifaceted effects; affects areas like social, political, economic and geographical; and is one of the main themes of art, which cannot remain insensitive to social problems. Artists perform their arts to pronounce problems through individual and social manifestos on international platforms. Artistic activities reflecting the magnitude of the crisis against refugees contribute to changing attitudes towards refugees and serve as a bridge to reaching authorities with disturbing problem presentations. The study aims to evaluate the refugee problem between the past and present, to make concrete judgments on artistic interactions and products realized in the national field, and to make analytical contributions by presenting references from international artworks to the effects of the questioning, thought-provoking, remedial, restorative, and constructive role of art in refugee problem. Nevertheless, some studies were conducted by addressing refugees living throughout Malatya, Malatya Refugee Camp, and Torbalı, Izmir, and concrete data obtained through the constructivist role of art before social problems.