Noah and Taya with Arts4Refugees talks with Florence - a student journalist with us. This placement was organised by Oxford University Career Services. Florence is studying music. She thinks that the arts help provide a more human side to the refugee experience instead of just the statistics that the mainstream media puts out. Florence researched the designer, model, and actress Alek Wek.
When Alek started modelling darker skinned models were not mainstream in the U.S. or Europe, so her success helped paved the way for others. She is from South Sudan and had to flee the civil war in 1985 to the capital to be with their relatives. Alek has used her background in her works to help express her refugee experience.
You can listen to the full conversation here.
Key Points:
Florence is studying music at Oxford’
She researched Alek Wek
Alek is from South Sudan and had to leave because of the civil war
She is also an ambassador for Medicine San Frontier (Doctors without Borders)
If you would like to learn more about Alek- there is a short story by Florence here.
