Wretched Refused

This piece is inspired by the story of a young girl who escaped captivity at the age of fourteen, six years after she had been kidnapped and trafficked escaping war and genocide. Her defiant pose is based on Degas' "the Little Dancer, aged fourteen", which is not the romantic representation of the Parisian ballet it is often made out to be. Her piercing gaze is meant to look forcefully through the viewer to the future, leaving the past behind. The title comes from a line in the poem 'The New Colossus' by Emma Lazarus, carved into the tablet held by the Statue of Liberty.