SCARF, Sarah Pulling (Bear Hunt Photography), and individuals from the SCARF community have collaborated to produce ‘The More You Know‘: a series of photo essays featuring individuals from refugee backgrounds living in the Illawarra.
Accompanying these photographs are stories told by these people – about their own lives, experiences, the world and everything in between.
‘The More You Know‘ was borne out of a desire to share stories of individuals from refugee backgrounds that represent them as diverse and multi-dimensional people with lives and identities outside of their refugee experience.
While we recognise that it’s impossible to capture the depth and complexity of a person in their totality, we’re hoping to share stories that edge a little closer toward this, and a little further away from narratives that are singular and reductive.
Our theory is that by sharing stories that show people in all of their expansive ‘human-ness’, we’re inviting readers to connect in a way that’s authentic and felt. Because when we’re connected, we open ourselves up to empathy, kindness and all the other things that make living exceptional.