National touring exhibit at local libraries highlights plight of refugees

A national touring exhibit is currently on display at libraries in Arlington Heights and Palatine, and at multiple locations in Skokie. The same display ran last year in Schaumburg and Wheaton.

Its topic? Meeting immigrants and hearing their stories in a poignant photo exhibit titled “When Home Won't Let You Stay: Stories of Refugees in America.”

The images feature portraits of individuals accompanied by their first-person, poetic stories that give perspectives on their often hidden lives and compelling experiences as refugees now living in local communities.

Take a woman from Somalia named Samsam. In her story, she describes fleeing the killing and violence in Mogadishu that took the lives of her neighbors and cousins.

“Every day we were living in fear that something would happen to us,” she says. “I couldn't stay.”

Another immigrant from Mogadishu, Mohamed I., described a terrorist who blew himself up in front of his medical school.

“The force knocked me down,” he says. “A schoolmate lost his eyes. I wrapped my shirt around his head and held him.”

The exhibit is the work of freelance photojournalist James Bowey, a Glen Ellyn native now based in Chicago. In the early part of his career, one of his assignments was to cover the war in Bosnia, which led to 15 years of capturing images of international poverty and conflict.

Over the years, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Time magazine and The Associated Press, among others. But it was when Bowey was on the faculty at Winona State University that he began to think about the power of media as a way to bridge social division.

“We're in a world awash in more information, but we have even less understanding,” Bowey says.

Beginning in 2015, he sensed a difference in the way people viewed immigrants, basically seeing them not as victims but as enemies and as people to be feared. His journalism instincts compelled him to explore the story.

He sought out immigrants through old-fashioned, shoe leather journalism and working with refugee organizations. That led to photo sessions in the immigrants' homes. After hearing their stories, Bowey boiled them down into a type of poetry called found poems.

“For me,” he says, “it's a way to combine journalism and art.”

Basically, he hopes this combination of visual portraits and artistic language will create empathy, allowing viewers to suspend their judgment and be open to the story of another person.

It certainly captures attention. At last year's exhibit at the Schaumburg Township Public Library, officials there estimate more than 10,000 people viewed or interacted with the display.

A cornerstone of his exhibitions are the community receptions with Bowey that he insists accompany the photo display. The program at the Palatine Public Library, 700 N. North Court, takes place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, while the one at the Arlington Memorial Library, 500 N. Dunton Ave., is at 7 p.m. March 20.

These are more than the traditional meet and greet at your local library. Bowey describes the evenings more as live theater, as he and members of the audience read the refugee stories accompanied by live music. He opens up the program to questions in the second hour.

“The conversations that result are often very powerful,” Bowey says. “When you bring people together through stories, they break down division. There's this artistic engagement that captures and promotes our empathy.”

Officials at both the Arlington and Palatine libraries agree.

“We hope that our diverse community becomes more connected as they engage and empathize with the experiences shared in the photographs and stories,” says Melissa Gardner, assistant director of the Palatine Public Library.

Ultimately, Bowey describes the exhibit as a project of hope and renewal that allows people to experience a sense of connection with others and imagine the possibility for a shared future.

Meet photographer James A. Bowey

When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, at Palatine Public Library, 700 N. North Court, and 7 p.m. March 20 at Arlington Heights Memorial Library, 500 N. Dunton Ave.

Cost: Free

Details: palatinelibrary.org/stories-refugees-america-photography-exhibit or ahml.info/node/100006512