"Artists in Exile: Iraqi Refugees in Syria,” an exhibit of new paintings by Iraqi refugee artists in Syria, will continue Fridays and Saturdays through October 27, 2012, at the Second Presbyterian Church, in Manhattan, New York. The paintings will be on sale by silent auction to benefit the refugees. Final bids will be accepted on October 27 at 5 pm. Second Presbyterian is located on the south side of 96th Street and Central Park West. The exhibit will be open Fridays and Saturdays from 11 am to 7 pm.
The exhibit is composed of over two dozen works by over a dozen Iraqi artists who were educated in Baghdad before fleeing to Damascus over the past several years. The exhibit is one of a series of semi-annual exhibits held by Common Humanity. The sale of the paintings will make a direct contribution to the livelihood of these courageous refugee artists and their families who now find themselves caught up in a new cycle of violence.
The Iraqi refugee artists are part of up to one million Iraqi refugees in Damascus whose numbers have comprised the largest urban refugee population in the world. Their plight has been largely ignored by the rest of the world. In recent months, some of the refugees have been returning to their homeland of Iraq but many still remain in Syria.
