Fly to Freedom: The Art of the Golden Venture Refugees is a traveling exhibition hosted by the Smithsonian’s Arts & Industries Building and produced by the New York-based Museum of Chinese in America (MoCA) from June 8-September 30, 2001.
Fly to Freedom traces how the ship, Golden Venture, bearing 300 passengers from China (mostly from the province of Fujian) wrecked off the coast of New York City on June 6, 1993. Among the passengers were many who had left their homes in China to make passage to the United States. Fifty-two of these refugees were apprehended by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and sent to York County Prison in Pennsylvania and were held there for nearly four years.
Fly to Freedom reveals how the refugees while being incarcerated transformed a paper-folding pastime into an art, creating more than 10,000 paper sculptures.
Fly to Freedom featured 25 artworks which speak of the difficulties that many immigrants face when they leave their homelands and are moving testaments to the human impulse to create beauty in the face of hardship.
Visitors to this exhibition learned the story of the ship and her passengers, and the outcome of the refugees’ struggles. Five of the artists represented in the show received approval for U.S. residency on the basis of “extraordinary artistic ability.”
The exhibit was supported by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support was provided by The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and members of MoCA.
For more information, visit: www.apa.si.edu.
Disclaimer: This is not an official blog of the Smithsonian Group nor I am associated with them.
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