We have it down to a global science – raging conflict or disaster strikes and we drape a tarp over the heads of our refugees left with nowhere to go – a tarp expected to become a roof over their heads until they can return home or create a new one. And then satisfied with the great humanitarian work done, we turn our attention towards the next media buzz, letting the tarps slowly wear and droop as the years pass. One, three, seventeen years later – the conflicts and disasters seem endless, as do the tarps, taking shape around the people they are meant to shelter. We turn our gaze away until we don’t have to see them as the whole people they are, the people they could have been, if only we had looked closer when they reached out for help.

Sculpted blue tarp, scale: 6' height

Exhibited in the Product Design Loft at Stanford University