Amazing things created by refugees
- Text by HUCK HQ
News stories can sometimes make us forget that refugees are also people. And people can do great things when they’re given the freedom to be safe. Here’s some examples of things we wouldn’t have if we tightened borders.
The iPhone
Steve Jobs grandmother was an Armenian refugee who lost her first husband in the war and moved to San Francisco with her parents. If you don’t want refugees in your country, don’t use an iPhone you hypocrite.
Discovery of Immunological Tolerance
An Emeritus professor, Leslie Brent is approaching his nineties, and has behind him a legacy that evokes both terror and admiration. In 1938 he was one of the first Jews to escape anti-semitic prejudice in Nazi Germany on the Kindertransports, coming to the United Kingdom as a thirteen-year-old refugee. His family were not so fortunate. Despite suffering due to the absence of his parents and survivor’s guilt, Leslie had a successful academic career, climaxing with his co-discovery of immunological tolerance, which led to a Nobel prize. Read his full story in Huck 53 – The Change Issue, as part of our portrait series shot by Michael Vince Kim.
The Mini
The creator of the Mini, Sir Alec Issigonis, was a Greek refugee who fled Turkey in 1922, ahead of the Great Fire of Smyrna and the Turkish re-possession of Smyrna at the end of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). Issigonis went into the motor industry as an engineer and designer and later designed the mini in response to fuel rationing brought about by the Suez Crisis.
Paper Planes
Calculated as the seventh best-selling song by a British artist in the digital era, Paper Planes was written and performed by MIA, a British hip hop artist who fled to the UK aged eleven from the Sri Lankan Civil War in which her father was a Tamil activist.
Check out the full article in Huck 53 – The Change Issue. Grab a copy in the Huck Shop or subscribe today to make sure you don’t miss another issue.
Latest on Huck
This erotic zine dismantles LGBTQ+ respectability politics
Zine Scene — Created by Megan Wallace and Jack Rowe, PULP is a new print publication that embraces the diverse and messy, yet pleasurable multitudes that sex and desire can take.
Written by: Isaac Muk
As Tbilisi’s famed nightclubs reawaken, a murky future awaits
Spaces Between the Beats — Since Georgia’s ruling party suspended plans for EU accession, protests have continued in the capital, with nightclubs shutting in solidarity. Victor Swezey reported on their New Year’s Eve reopening, finding a mix of anxiety, catharsis and defiance.
Written by: Victor Swezey
Los Angeles is burning: Rick Castro on fleeing his home once again
Braver New World — In 2020, the photographer fled the Bobcat Fire in San Bernardino to his East Hollywood home, sparking the inspiration for an unsettling photo series. Now, while preparing for its exhibition, he has had to leave once again, returning to the mountains.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Ghais Guevara: “Rap is a pinnacle of our culture”
What Made Me — In our new series, we ask artists and rebels about the forces and experiences that have shaped who they are. First up, Philadelphian rap experimentalist Ghais Guevara.
Written by: Ghais Guevara
Gaza Biennale comes to London in ICA protest
Art and action — The global project, which presents the work of over 60 Palestinian artists, will be on view outside the art institution in protest of an exhibition funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Written by: Cyna Mirzai
Ragnar Axelsson’s thawing vision of Arctic life
At the Edge of the World — For over four decades, the Icelandic photographer has been journeying to the tip of the earth and documenting its communities. A new exhibition dives into his archive.
Written by: Cyna Mirzai