“REFLECTING REFUGE” ARTIST CHRISTINE SAUERTEIG-PILAAR REFLECTS ON REFUGE, IDENTITY AND HOPE MAPLEWOOD, NJ –

The Township of Maplewood’s Division of Arts & Culture is proud to present Reflecting Refuge, a powerful and participatory art installation by New Jersey-based artist Christine Sauerteig-Pilaar, opening Thursday, August 14, 2025 at the 1978 Maplewood Arts Center.

This timely and deeply moving exhibition explores the global refugee crisis through personal storytelling, community collaboration, and bold visual metaphors. At the heart of the show is a full-scale tent structure crafted from reflective Mylar, a fragile material symbolizing the precarious boundaries refugees depend on for survival. Surrounding the tent are Christine’s expressive gouaches of displaced families, created in response to the Syrian Civil War and ongoing global displacement crises.

The work is both intimate and expansive—a shelter constructed not only by the artist, but in collaboration with local SOMA high school students, who together with Christine, will build the Mylar tent. Once the exhibition opens, attendees are invited to contribute to the creation of the tent’s suspended canopy by tracing their hands, along with words, symbols, or images, onto sewing pattern paper. These community contributions will be sewn together to form a collective screen above the tent—an expression of shared care, protest, and solidarity.

“We are the tent. We are the protection, the cause, and the vulnerability it symbolizes,” says Sauerteig-Pilaar. “Together, we build a suspended ‘hug’ offering symbolic shelter to all who walk beneath it—a rally cry for our most basic love for humanity and for each other.”  

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

Visitors are encouraged to contribute to the installation by tracing their hand(s) on provided sewing pattern paper and adding a word, image, or symbol that represents refuge, identity, or hope. Completed pieces will be returned to the gallery, where they will be sewn together into the larger artwork. This collaboration forms the emotional and symbolic canopy of Reflecting Refuge. 

KEY DATES

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 14 | 5–8 PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays & Sundays, 1–4 PM
Exhibition Dates: August 16–31 (open 8/16, 8/17, 8/23, 8/24, 8/30, 8/31)
Closing Reception: Friday, September 5 | 5–8 PM
Location: 1978 Arts Center, 1978 Springfield Avenue, Maplewood, NJ 

For more information:
Contact Maplewood Division of Arts & Culture Manager, Andrea Teutli, at ateutli@maplewoodnj.gov or (973) 843-7157.