Images of refugee camps, circulating through mass media, are rarely, if ever, joyous. 1 sees the occasional movie theater in a campsite with children eating popcorn and gathering happily to watch a film, or another with charity groups who brand children awkwardly smile for photos for them to mail service on Instagram with captions that read 'happiness can't exist bought'. Utter, genuine joy, however, is rare

The reasons are not hard to empathise; the mere fact of the camps' beingness is a problem; in spite of our eyes becoming accustomed to the image of (un)livable tents in the centre of urban jungles, their inception began – allegedly – as part of an intention to find a temporary fix for the always-increasing so-called 'refugee crisis', and ended up being dispersed across the globe, made into a global phenomenon and a permanent country of limbo for millions of refugees.

You really don't demand a PhD to understand clowning.

Only ane unexpected source of joy – the most typical withal unpredictable – is now touring Lebanon's refugee camps: a clown troupe, called Clown Me In, which organises performances besides as teaches clowning workshops equally a manner to offering a different mode of creative expression to refugees to clear their experiences and spread joy amongst each other at the same fourth dimension.

"Clowning [allows usa] to touch the vulnerability of the person, be honest, intermission this 4th wall with people, it just all made sense to me [in the context of refugees]," explains Clown Me In co-founder, clown and performer Sabine Choucair. Sabine discovered clowning while studying miming in the UK; she went to a performing arts schoolhouse and found the potential that clowning had not only for expression, but for existence a highly mobile and accessible art form.

...that's why we e'er try to employ it in camps and with refugees, is that information technology'south a very simple, very cheerful and happy art, and at the same fourth dimension, it does wonders.

"What's amazing about it, and that'due south why we always try to apply information technology in camps and with refugees, is that information technology's a very simple, very cheerful and happy art, and at the same time, information technology does wonders. Yous actually don't need a PhD to empathise clowning. You simply need to enjoy and express mirth and laughter alone also does wonders," Sabine says.

With that in mind, she took the fine art to the people she thought could make the most of it – indigenous and disadvantaged communities in Mexico – with co-founder, Gabriela Munoz, first, then effectually Latin America, in Brazil and the Amazon, earlier heading back to her native Lebanon to provide relief to refugee communities.

When you say 'clown' to people here, they'll either think ofIt the movie or a birthday party clown

"The most amazing affair nearly clowning is that we run across the effect straight away, so we frequently get to camps, or anywhere really where people are normally non very cheerful, so as soon as nosotros get in, in that location's an instant reaction of going from a neutral confront or deplorable face up to a joyful and super happy face, and the whole feeling of the place changes," says Sabine. Even though clowning is not widespread, peculiarly as an 'art', it is maybe one of the arts that is most malleable, teachable and that is at the essence of its power – it knows no borders and no age, and it leaves a profound, genuine and, as Sabine explained, incredibly fast impact.

Even though people living in refugee camps are in need of much more than laughter – most notably safe, stability, and shelter – information technology remains one of the essential elements of human life forcibly lost on them, because their living situations practise not enable them to express joy often, and that's what Sabine aims to provide. Laughter, however, does non stand on its own, and Sabine's group acknowledges that. "It went from only giving workshops and performances to really doing artivism on the streets, so using art, using this fine art of clowning, to do some activisim regarding everything that bothers u.s.a. in the state, like ecology problems, corruption, and social injustice."

Besides giving actual performances, the clown troupe is trained to requite workshops in clowning, and Sabine says children are more than than eager to employ interim every bit a manner of expressing their stories. "When we started The Caravan Projection, which was based on Syrian refugee stories, in the starting time one, the actors were non-professional actors that we recruited from the camps," says Sabine. "They really enjoyed the experience of learning how to perform and then touring on the streets with stories that were collected from their entourage."

They launched The Caravan Project in 2016, putting Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese children's stories at the forefront of their performances, tackling topics ranging from violence, bullying, and poverty, to forced labour and violations of their legal rights. A group of professional person actors climb atop a van, which is made into different sets, for a functioning accompanied by recorded audio of the children's stories – a method they are pioneering in an try to proceed the focus of their work on the children themselves, rather than taking abroad from it by silencing them.

We've been to most of all of the demonstrations that happened in the streets, dressed as clowns. […] Information technology adds more listening and acceptance from the people we're addressing this demonstration to.

"We recorded with kids who are refugees, who talked virtually violence between them at schoolhouse. I went to their school, spent maybe two-3 days with them and then recorded some of the violent behaviors they are facing and committing on each other," she recounts. "I too followed ane seven-year-old kid who sells flowers in the streets, and he tells the states what happens to him on the streets and his experiences with people," she adds. Those kinds of unheard and silenced stories are at the centre of Clown Me In, whose art makes for an appropriate outlet for marginalised voices.

Clowns' marginality in the art scene in and of itself certainly acted as a hurdle for the troupe, because they are not treated every bit artists in the Middle East. However, that didn't stop them from attempting to mainstream it and helping it reach audiences that would have probably never had access to them. "When you say 'clown' to people here, they'll either call up of IT the picture or a birthday party clown, so it's not at all popular," says Sabine. But they brand videos, and they take their art grade to the streets, and as a result, people who may have never thought of clowns in this context - especially that of social justice - begin to consider it as such. And they use the accessibility of their fine art, and the immediate reaction of happiness it fosters, to their reward.

They created a Valentine's Day video in 2016 that went viral, spotlighting the garbage crunch in Lebanon, which started roughly in 2015 with the closure of an over-capacity landfill in Naameh, Lebanon. The consistent dumping of trash into seas and coastal landfills, as well equally in the streets of Beirut, demonstrated severe reaction on the office of Lebanese authorities that has been causing outrage across Lebanon for years.

Several actors from Clown Me In took to the streets of Beirut on Valentine's Solar day with a lite all the same powerful operation, showing couples dancing amid the trash piled up in the outskirts of the city – a play on the popular motif, 'love is in the air'.

From the showtime, the street became their stage. "The first fourth dimension we went on the streets, it was 2011, and it was actually role of an exercise I was doing with people who were taking the clown workshop," explains Sabine. "I told them okay, the clown is live when the clown is in front of people, so let's get on the street and attack information technology."

Nosotros recorded with kids who are refugees, who talked about violence betwixt them at school. I went to their school, spent possibly 2-iii days with them and and so recorded some of the tearing behaviors they are facing and committing on each other

That marked the inception of Clown Me In'southward 'clown attacks,' which sees a grouping of them go onto the street, fighting for one crusade or another, from Lebanon's environmental issues, to abuse. "Nosotros've been to about of all of the demonstrations that happened in the streets, dressed as clowns. […] Information technology adds more listening and credence from the people we're addressing this sit-in to. When we desire to say something that's harsh and straight to the betoken, it's always better to practice information technology through laughter than through anger. Information technology says, we're not here to kill. We're not here to fight in a violent mode. Nosotros're here to ask for our rights, but to enquire for our rights, in order for you to hear u.s.a., nosotros're just going to ask for them in a fun style."

And it's true that going as clowns gives them an edge during demonstrations on the streets. Sabine points out that they are rarely agape to approach cops, to stand near them, talk to them, and humour them. They're the just ones who are able to do that, and that gives them leverage – people think they are only beingness funny, but in reality, they are fighting along with the balance of the demonstrators, finding more elbowroom than others, and allowing potential for credence between parties who are usually on opposite sides of the fight.

They're now also moving their fights – for social justice, for clowning every bit an art, and for refugee communities – by the streets and camps, and into classrooms, with the opening of a street theatre school in Beirut called the International Establish for Very Very Serious Studies, which just began operating for the 2019/20 school year. "We're working with a various group of 12 artists, to teach classes in clowning, bouffon technique [a clowning technique that teaches mockery], story-telling, and social therapy," says Sabine. "The thought is for students, after four months of intensive training, to become side by side year and work with communities effectually Lebanon, and come up with street performances well-nigh bug that people are facing."

Clown Me In's work with refugees and their efforts to perform their art as a platform for healing, trauma relief, social resistance and dialogue has evolved in many ways since information technology first began, and they are now working on establishing themselves beyond unlike fields by developing sustainable efforts and gathering more and more aspiring clowns together to fight – for social justice, for free speech, political dialogue, and for refugees' right to express mirth.

Images courtesy of Clown Me In.

You can follow Clown Me In's activities on their Facebook and Instagram pages, and their website.