Photo by Magnus Wennman.Doors for migration have slammed shut across the globe, but the American Swedish Institute is bucking the trend and throwing open its doors to migration each Wednesday during the month of February. The occasion? Free access to its 2017 themed exhibition series Migration, Identity and Belonging. One of the centerpieces of this exhibition is Where the Children Sleep, a series of haunting photographs and stories of Syrian refugee children by award-winning Swedish photojournalist Magnus Wennman.
Migration, Identity and Belonging opens February 1 and continues through March 5; entry on February 1, 8, 15, and 22 is free of charge (regularly $10 for non-ASI members). Wennman, the winner of 2 World Press Photo Awards and 14 Picture of the Year international awards, took many of the photographs for this series in cooperation with the UN Refugee Agency.
This exhibition comes in timely response to an anti-migration backlash in much of Western Europe and the United States. ASI President and CEO Bruce Karstadt referenced this tension in a prepared statement, noting “As we enter 2017 in a world of changing political and social conditions, I wish to reaffirm the vision that inspires the American Swedish Institute today and historically, which is to be a gathering place for all people to connect their pasts to a shared future and to understand their heritage in relationship to others.”
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The American Swedish Institute is located at 2600 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, 55418. The ASI museum is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 am–5 pm; Wednesday, 10 am-8 pm; Sunday, Noon–5 pm; and is closed Monday. Museum admission is Free on Wednesdays during February 2017. Normal admission is: $10 adults, $7 ages 62+, $5 ages 6–18 and full-time students with ID. Free for ASI members and kids ages 5 and under.
