Windows on the World
Leros 2016–2020
WOTW is founded on the premise that creative expression challenges perceptions and gives voice to marginalised people, and that there is intrinsic value in music as an effective therapeutic tool.
By engaging with the creativity of those stuck in protracted displacement, the initiative seeks to contribute in sustainable ways to the long-term integration of refugee and host communities.
WOTW focuses on building confidence, sense of self, and emotional expression through a programme of creative arts projects recognising these as being vital for children’s well-being when they are living with such uncertainty.
“PIKPA was an oasis in the desert of government treatment of refugees and migrants. Yet, it was a gloomy place, conditions were harsh. For me, a citizen of a state, a white non-muslim European free to travel as I pleased, it was deeply depressing. For them Others, time past slowly, doing nothing, waiting and waiting and waiting...
In the summer things were getting better. All sorts of volunteers stormed PIKPA, some to “educate” the adults, others to “entertain” the children. No matter what, they brought some color in this grey space, some attention and care to the neglected.
Dee was not a summer bird. She showed up several times all through the year, bearing not just good intentions and love, but also determination and knowledge. Under her guidance, children would concetrate, express themselves, communicate, and create little things that gave them a sense of pride and satisfaction.
Being it a minor art project, or a major performance, it all gave children a goal to achieve, a purpose.
As I saw it, participating day after day in this creative process, in a way, soothed their edges and assembled their scattered pieces in a whole. They looked calmer, stronger, happier.
This was Dee’s workshops’ power: transformative and healing.”
Roo Zanou
Pikpa Leros 2016–2020
Windows on the world - Ritsona Camp, Greece