Global Refugee Mural by Washington, DC artist Joel Bergner
Location: the alley wall of Kefa Café (click on the link for a music and video diary of the opening by Jonathan Vogel, Silver Spring Voice)
963 Bonifant St, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Bergner based the ideas for the mural on interviews he conducted with three refugees who live in Maryland. His mural explores the personal stories of the their homelands while celebrating the culture and traditions there.
The “Global Refugee Mural” is part of the Action Ashé! Global Mural Project, founded by artist Joel Bergner. Through this project, Joel creates colorful, intense murals with social and cultural themes in cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, Baltimore, Brazil and Peru. His projects have included solo work, youth projects, and he has directed a series of murals by international artists in DC. Aside from his art, Joel has done community-based work with emotionally disturbed teenagers, foster youth, the homeless, and the mentally ill, and has lived and worked in Central America, the Caribbean, and in the famous shanty town “City of God” in Brazil.
Funded through a grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, the project has a partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s local Refugee Resettlement Center in Silver Spring.
