CLAREMONT, CA — Sahara: Acts of memory, presented at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, explores how graphic design can transform the way we understand and interact with others. Split between two galleries, the exhibition reinterprets the experiences of graphic designer Amir Berbić, who, together with his parents and younger brother, spent more than a year in a refugee camp in Denmark after the war in Bosnia drove them from their home in Sarajevo. To instill a sense of community and belonging to their new surroundings – families lived in tents set up on sandy ground nestled in the Danish countryside – Berbić’s father, Ismet, named the camp “Sahara” and designed a logo of a yellow -yellow rising sun against pyramid shapes.

The name and logo appeared on a welcome sign near the entrance to the camp, all in an effort to build a cohesive identity in the face of dehumanizing circumstances. (Furthermore, Ismet created panels with the names of the residents for each tent, reclaiming a certain humanity stripped away by the ID numbers given to them.) Along with Berbić’s mother, Hika, the two also led a school for the children of the camp and organized social gatherings.

One of the galleries in the museum recreates the dimensions of the tent in which the Berbićs lived with two other families. Gray lines mark the exact location of bunk beds, lockers and a communal table. Berbić designed the memory piece. The walls are covered with ephemera from their year in the Sahara – newspaper articles detailing Ismet’s branding of the camp; designs that Ismet created in his makeshift studio; and a Danish TV interview with Hika and Ismet about being forced to leave Sarajevo and their new life in the Sahara. Memory is embodied in this piece, as Berbić attempts to sift through his own history of movement and change.

Berbić was prompted to revisit his father’s design work when he came across media images of Syrian and Iraqi refugees seeking asylum in European countries in 2015. Like the numbers given to refugees in the camp, these images often spread toxic stories about people dispossessed of their homes. and livelihoods more than they humanize people and their experiences. In response to the current crisis, Berbić has created posters and manuals that draw on his childhood in the Sahara, memories that contradict the hostile rhetoric surrounding refugees.

A series of posters reimagines various social events held in the Sahara, including an open day, a fish dinner and a protest for Bosnia. The designs are dynamic and vivid, just like the way we can imagine the people who lived there. In “Disco Night” (2021), these swirling patterns evoke the euphoria of dancing the night away under pulsating lights. A series of manuals recall the school organized by Hika and Ismet; however, instead of geography or math lessons, its pages are filled with lyrical memories of the artist’s childhood. For Berbić, honoring the memory of the Sahara demonstrates the transformative power of design and creation.

Sahara: Acts of memory continues at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College (120 West Bonita Avenue, Claremont, CA) through February 27. The exhibition was curated by Karen Kice.