At the edge of the cold and dark Canadian Winter

 

Six years ago,

I co-facilitated a series of art workshops with 

Syrian refugees 

and other new Canadians at the 

Art Gallery of Peterborough. 

To say that it was a wonderful experience 

would be putting it lightly. 

We communicated not through language, 

but through paint and clay and pencil and ink, 

through laughter and tears. 

We built bridges (literally) and explored the 

concept of ‘home’. 

We made collaborative posters and banners, 

with colours and images and words from 

many cultures. 

We ‘heard’, through drawings, 

the struggle and terror and instability 

that brought our new friends to 

Peterborough Ontario

at the edge of the cold and dark 

Canadian winter.

Somehow, despite the weather, 

that studio was always filled 

with colour and music, with light and love.