Sirkhane is a social circus school founded in 2012 in a region where it is difficult to be a child. Sirkhane’s mission is to provide a safe and friendly environment for children, who are affected by conflicts. Children have the opportunity to collaborate and form friendships with one other, beyond gender, social and cultural differences.

Sirkhane Darkroom ( سيرك هانة داركروم) is a mobile darkroom operating in the villages along the border of Syria and Turkey. The project involves both local and refugee children, teaching them analogue photographic processes, allowing them to experiment with the medium as a form of play and a means of understanding the world around them. Led by the photographer and Syrian refugee Serbest Salih, the darkroom was founded on the belief in photography as a universal and therapeutic language. Analogue photography is explored as an alternative pedagogy allowing children to address and express themselves on issues such as migrant rights, war, gender equality, child labour, forced marriage and the environmental crisis. The darkroom offers a space of refuge in which alternative realities can be imagined and produced.