'#OrangeVest' Performance at Central Park NYC

The #OrangeVest performance is a public intervention about the refugee crisis in Europe. The visual language of the piece refers to the refugees’ trip from Turkey to Greece and from Libya to Italy. As part of the action, a group of people wear black clothes and orange life vests. They walk around New York City in order to raise awareness about the antagonism that the refugees are facing on the other side of the world.
The “#SafePassage” protest on behalf of refugee rights took place in one hundred cities around the world on February 27, 2016. The #OrangeVest performance in Central Park was the only #SafePassage action in the United States. The majority of the performers were returned volunteers from Turkey, Europe and Greece. Our performers included a Syrian refugee whose family was still stranded in Lebanon and two members of the local Greek community. In this performance I was working with people that I had just met and yet the sense of trust, the power of their experience working with refugees, and our mutual will to inform the American public inspired us, and we quickly evolved into a very strong group.
#orangevest #refugeecrisis #performanceart #centralpark #georgialale

Georgia Lale Studio