On Thursday, 22 January 2015, students from the UIC’s degree programme in Humanities and Cultural Studies had the opportunity to visit a photographic exhibition at CaixaForum. “The Most Important Things: Portraits of Flight” is organized by the Social Projects division of the “la Caixa” savings bank and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The exhibition gave the students a firsthand glimpse into the conflicts currently taking place in Syria, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Mali, as well as the humanitarian crisis affecting more than 12 million people who have had to flee their homes as a result of persecution, general violence and abuse of their human rights.
Through the questions, “What is the most important thing for you?”, and “What would you take if you had to flee your home?”, the students were invited to reflect on the refugees’ situations and put themselves in the shoes of those 12 million people who have had to find answers to those very questions.
The visit to the exhibition formed part of the Interdisciplinary Workshop, which was held from Monday to Friday, 19-23 January 2015. This year’s Workshop invited all of the UIC's Humanities degree students to reflect on the emotional reactions that are derived from suffering by conducting an analysis of literature, philosophical works, images, music, cinema and photographs that tackle the subject.
