Rick Shaefer: The Refugee Trilogy

This monumental three-piece suite addresses the perilous journeys faced by refugees and is a reaction by artist Rick Shaefer to the ongoing immigration crisis unfolding across the globe. The three works in the trilogy are Land Crossing, dealing with the migration across foreign lands; Water Crossing, depicting the perilous journeys faced by refugees on the open seas; and Border Crossing, showing the conflicts and hostilities they face at borders. The three works employ the vernacular of the Baroque (specifically incorporating various figurative elements of Rubens' paintings) to express this contemporary debacle in a language both familiar and historical: reminding us of the tenacious persistence of this epic human tragedy.