Artists Collaborate With Refugees To Help Them Make Living In Their New World
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's a small door into another world known as Southeast By Southeast.
The establishment was started by Shira Walinsky and Melissa Fogg and is backed by the Mural Arts Program. It's a refugee community art space with a mission to support families of refugees.
The main objective is to help them make a living in their new world through textiles, colored by the country they left.
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"They don't come here with nothing to offer," said Fogg. "They come here with a full set of skills to make money."
"Some have lived in camps for 20 years, so when you think about that, you have no freedom, no access to education," said Walinsky. "This space I think provides a way to come together to learn and celebrate tradition in crafts."
Fashion instructor Nancy Volpe Beringer teaches new skills like Shibori, the Japanese art of knot tying to create patterns in iced dyed scarves. They eventually get sold in a pop up shop in February with all the proceeds going back towards these women.
"You can see they love it," Beringer said. "It's just a collaborative environment. I'm learning from them and they are learning from me."
It's a room of learning for refugees, filled with windows of opportunity.