Local artist Eliza Gregory wanted to know what happens when two radically different cultures coalesce, and the question led to her latest exhibit, “Fuse: Portraits of Refugee Households in Metropolitan Phoenix.”

At an artist’s talk Monday night, Gregory discussed how her exhibit explores the cultural identities of resettled refugees.

“I thought I would like to take pictures about how people have had to change places and risk everything,” Gregory said. “These refugees have one set of internal cultural expectations and have to live by another set of expectations in their new culture.”

The event, held at the ASU Museum of Anthropology on the Tempe campus, was sponsored by Community Outreach & Advocacy for Refugees. COAR assisted many of the families photographed in the exhibit.

The exhibit featured 20 photographs of refugees who have been resettled in Phoenix from countries all over the world, including Bosnia, Burma, Burundi, Congo, Hungary, Iraq, Liberia, Somalia and Sudan.

COAR Program Director Wendy Zupac said she enjoyed the exhibit because it captures the entirety of the refugee experience.

“There are a lot of exhibits that focus on the challenges that refugees face, and what Eliza is trying to do is show the talent and dignity of the refugees as they rebuild their lives here,” said Zupac, a political science, history and Spanish senior.

Gregory said she wanted the exhibit to capture the “beautiful awkwardness” of the relocation process that the refugees go through.

“The most simple takeaway from the exhibit is that the refugees are here in Phoenix and they are worth getting to know,” she said.

On a more complex level, Gregory said she hopes the exhibit willl stimulate an interest in the refugee-relocation process.

“The best art asks questions and doesn’t just give answers,” she said. “I hope that this exhibit starts the wheels turning.”

Once people begin asking questions, they will naturally seek answers, and that is the first step toward activism, Gregory said.

Nearly 40 people came to view the exhibit and hear Gregory speak.

Mirna Hodzic, a former refugee from Bosnia, said she enjoyed the exhibit because she was able to relate to the subjects in the photographs.

“It is so interesting to see other refugees who have gone through this process and to see the progress they are making and how they are adjusting,” said Hodzic, a global health and speech and hearing freshman.

The exhibit opened last April to positive reviews.

“Fuse” will be on display at the anthropology museum until Oct. 3, when it will move to a storefront on Mill Avenue.

Reach the reporter at lauren.gambino@asu.edu.