'Children Of No Nation' Exhibition

UPDATE: We have sold The Wilted Tulip Triptych to 10 Hanover Street Gallery.

UPDATE 2: we have extended the auction until the 24th September, more time for you to think and bid...:)

'Children Of No Nation' will be raising funds for the Lebanese NGO SAMA. SAMA ('listening' in Arabic) is a small NGO that was founded by a team of certified lawyers who have been working pro-bono as SAMA to provide free legal aid to Syrian refugees living in Lebanon.

SAMA will assist stateless children to file for late birth registration, and to obtain a birth certificate, for the reason of preventing statelessness, to grant the child the right to education, hospitalization and the right to leave Lebanon when the time comes.

SAMA will also assist in legal representation for SGBV (Sexual and Gender-based Violence) victims to support them not only with filing for restraining orders against their perpetrators, but also to assist victims of family violence to file family law charges against their husbands (divorce, custody, and alimony).

Further Information:

1. Syrian Refugees are unable to obtain legal visas or residency permits as the Lebanese authorities have made them increasingly more expensive. The price is now $200 for a residency permit. However, Syrian refugees are unable to work without residency permits, meaning that they are unable to save up the money to pay for one.

Without a residency permit, Syrian couples cannot legally register their marriage. Due to the price of these permits they often have illegal marriages in the settlements. However, without a registered marriage Syrian refugees are unable to claim a Syrian Birth certificate for their child. The law in Lebanon states that a child must be formally registered with a civil or local government before the age of 1 year. As such, over 70,000 children are stateless.

2. UNHCR notes that a young girl married is more likely to suffer rape and abuse inside her marriage
“Child brides face a wide range of social and health consequences including higher rates of maternal mortality and complications during pregnancy and childbirth; higher rates of violence; poor educational and economic opportunities and limited freedom and social interaction with children their own age."

In this way, SAMA's work is indispensable as they provide free legal representation for impoverished Syrian refugees.

(average) COURT FEES:
Marriage registration: $280/£215 per case
Late birth registration: $600/£450 per case
Family Law/SGBV legal representation: $700-900/£530-£690 per case

DNA test Costs 200$/£150 to match the child with each of his/her parents.

Please create an account in order to bid for an item, or alternatively to donate to the cause. Everyone who buys a piece of art, or donates to the cause will receive copies of official receipts by the courts in Lebanon in order to ensure transparency.

Children Of No Nation is the first exhibition to shed a clear light on the risks and causes of statelessness and early marriage for the Syrian refugee community in Lebanon. This is a multimedia exhibition that uses photography by Julian Zerressen, artwork from brocade designer Hannah Nicholas (in collaboration with Kate Dunn), animation work by Xaviera Lopez and audio interviews by Bella Saltiel (in collaboration with SAMA and Tim Garcia).

Through these various mediums the exhibition unravels how statelessness and early marriage affect the daily lives of Syrian refugees. It will clarify the link to statelessness, early marriage and poverty by showing how prohibitive residency restrictions affect livelihood opportunities which mean that costly marriage and birth certificates are unattainable for refugees in Lebanon. As such, many families might resort to drastic measures in order to survive, such as pushing a daughter into an unsafe early marriage.