Color Me Through: ST.ART x Global Citizen Artfully Tackle Refugee Crisis
When combating such daunting tasks as helping eradicate extreme poverty by the year 2030, it can feel extremely overwhelming as to where to start tackling issues that affect all 7 billion of us on the planet on a daily basis whether we’re aware or not. Global Citizen in its fifth iteration has been moving full steam ahead on this global goal by tapping the likes of artists, media, policy makers, activists and the general public to #showup and voice solidarity with this year’s festival in Central Park focusing on climate change, our global refugee crisis in addition to equal opportunity & access to resources, education and healthcare for girls and women around the world.
ST.ART Creative Director, Khadijat Oseni w/ Global Citizen Founder, Hugh Evans and ST.ART Founder, Kamilla Sun at this year's Global Citizen Festival in New York.
As part of its mission towards tangible change and impact, Global Citizen invited ST.ART to interpret a visual demonstration of what it would look like to stand in unison with those affected by refugee crises and emergencies. ST.ART artist Ebony Bolt’s interactive piece, “Color Me Through” was inspired by the myriad of refugee faces that often go nameless with a bevy of untold stories and struggles lost in transit from their homes. It was instinctive for Bolt to draw upon ideas of empathy and resilience through outlining bodies of different shapes and sizes lumped together as one in a crowd. More importantly, rather than try to interpret narratives of what each refugee’s pain may feel like, Bolt by leaving each figure colorless, wanted to create a safe space geared towards empowering others to share their own perspectives and actively create change both physically on the canvas and beyond in conversation.
Global Citizen Festival attendees filling in ST.ART artist Ebony Bolt's "Color Me Through" interactive piece.
It was amazing to see our ST.ART station at the festival buzzing with an exciting blend of cultures, backgrounds and creeds armed with sharpies throughout the day to create what turned out to be a technicolor view of what it feels like to simply be human. Founder of ST.ART, Kamilla Sun and creative director Khadijat Oseni were honored to have Bolt’s “Color Me Through” be a part of the Global Citizen movement resounding the sentiment that, “it’s always a beautiful thing to witness how much change can literally occur if we step outside ourselves and band together to raise awareness.”
