'Exodus' captures plight of those driven from homes

The images stay in your mind long after your eyes take them in: black and white snapshots freezing the gritty reality of what it is like to be displaced as a refugee, a migrant without a home — all while still a child.

Organizers of a new exhibit called "Exodus" at The Leonardo in downtown Salt Lake City believe the photographs, by acclaimed documentary photographer Sebastiao Selgado, leave questions for viewers that must be addressed, despite the fact that most who see them in Salt Lake City will likely never experience being driven from home.

"We know that if we're going to have a deeper understanding as people of what human rights might mean to us, we need to meet each other in forums that are not intimidating to listen and interact with each other around the content and impact of imagery like this," said Leslie Kelen, executive director of the Center for Documentary Arts, which is a co-sponsor of the exhibit.

To get the community talking about the nexus of faith, art and human rights evoked by the images, the center has arranged a series of public dialogues featuring local religious leaders and educators. Designed to explain how particular faith traditions and higher education respond to human rights concerns at home and abroad, the biweekly lecture series will feature presentations by Buddhist, Catholic, Episcopal, Baha'i, Muslim, LDS, Unitarian and Jewish leaders (see schedule below).

Faith and ethics enter into the discussion, Kelen said, because "assuming every community has an ethical orientation, we're trying to understand the way that our different denominations are already approaching such matters."

Selgado began a six-year photographic odyssey in 1993, working among migrants, refugees and exiles across 40 nations, documenting their homeland, their flight from war, natural disaster, hunger and persecution, and their uncertain destinations and destinies.

The exhibit is the first for the center's Bruce W. Bastian Human Rights Gallery at The Leonardo at Library Square, 243 E. 400 South. The gallery was created to "promote pluralism and tolerance, foster intercultural learning and exchange, and reveal the interdependence of all human life on Earth," Kelen said. He envisions it as a place where both Utahns and visitors can "'carve out a place for compassion' in a sometimes ruthless universe."

The biweekly series, scheduled from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. every other week through early December, is designed to get Utahns talking about issues that impact the world at large, he said, rather than focusing on narrow divisions within the community. Presenters and dates for the "Crossroads: Community Dialogues" are: