A boat trip from Turkey, across the Aegean Sea to Greece; from there, over land to Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, and if all goes well, finally into Germany. Some make it to their final destination, but others are trapped behind the newly fortified borders, stuck in limbo....
In April of 2017, David Gross set out to follow the paths of the refugees on their way to find new homes. From Athens, Greece to Berlin, Germany, Gross taught therapeutic art classes to children and shot formal photographic portraits. The result is "The Inside-Outside Project in Europe," a unique way to show the effects of war and exodus on children.
The ideas behind the project are simple. The "Inside" is seen in the artwork created in art therapy-inspired classes. The "Outside" is shown with dignified, formal photographic portraits.
This project required four month of work in the field, and it contains are over 120 portraits of children and youth, and hundreds of paintings from the children. The subjects are almost all from Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan. David held workshops in Athens, Greece; Sofia Bulgaria; Belgrade, Serbia; Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria; Berlin and Köln, Germany.This work is the continuation of Gross' work with Syrian refugee children. From 2013 to 2015, Gross worked with children in Turkey and Lebanon, many of whom had recently arrived from the war in Syria.
