Our artwork brings together talent from both Syrian and Australian children on the theme of ‘freedom’. We are a small community organsiation called Art Vision Istanbul based in Brisbane raising money to provide art as an emotional outlet for refugee children displaced by the war in Syria and now living in poverty in Istanbul, Turkey. Our artwork “Freedom – a tale of two cities” or in Turkish “Özgürlük – iki şehrin bir hikaye”, shows the difference in perception of what the word ‘freedom’ means to children of different cultures. Saed from Syria draws on the ethos of keeping his whole family close to his heart in a place he feels safe from the outside world, while Zahri from Australia sees freedom as an open right, applicable to all, and has composed this heart-felt poem to describe how she feels.
