Refugee Families in Winter

As this work reflects, people continue to search for the Four Freedoms that Franklin D. Roosevelt and Norman Rockwell hoped would spread throughout the world. Gary Bist’s painting reflects upon the many refugees who risk their lives in arduous conditions in pursuit of safety, security, and freedom. Here, families face a dark forest that is “similar to the barricades, fences, barbed wire and walls that they must overcome at the border of any country they approach. A slight opening in the forest suggests a possible way in,” said the artist, who resides in Ontario, Canada.