Abu Dhabi Overseas Arts Festival holds world premiere of ‘Aida’ in Madrid

Riyadh: A Daesh soldier dressed in black holds up a long stick, which appears to be of orange fabric, over the heads of Yazidi women and children in cages.

Women and children clutched at the bars in front of them; some closed their eyes, while others opened their eyes in pain, grief and agony.

This is just one piece of art from the Yazidi cultural archive of genocide survivors posted by the United Nations on Google’s Arts and Culture platform.

The archives present four online exhibitions in English and Arabic, produced over a 12-month period by 16 Yazidi women in collaboration with Yazda, a community-led multinational corporation that protects and encourages Yazidis and others Religious and minority communities.

They were launched at the Yazda headquarters in Duhok, Iraq, and the Arab World Institute in Paris.

Yazda President Haider Elias said: “Our culture is who we are; protecting it is critical to the heart and soul of us as a community.

“Following the 2014 genocide, cultural genocide began and continues as our temples and places of worship were destroyed.

“This digital archive created by survivors provides moral support for those of us who have been traumatized and experienced the deep panic of losing our roots and culture.”

According to the International Organization for Migration, before 2014, of the more than 500,000 Yazidis in Iraq, 360,000 were displaced by Daesh, and more than 200,000 were still living in camps for internally displaced persons.

Art is often used to promote methods of intercultural understanding, communication, expression and education. In recent decades, they have been increasingly used to encourage recovery from war, genocide and its aftermath.

George Richards, Director of Community Jameel, which aims to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges, said: “The Yazidi women who create these profiles are seeking to respond to and heal from traumatic events and affirm their identities by documenting their culture. identity. .

“The project aims to leverage the known power of art and participatory archiving to support rehabilitation, and when assessing the effectiveness of interventions, also seeks to advance the evidence base for the potential positive impact of this approach – potentially informing design and Similar interventions are available in other settings around the world.”

The project, which supported 16 survivors from the Qadia, Khanke, Mamrashan, Kabartu, Sharia and Chameshko camps in Duhok province, will now be used by Yazda in a wider support programme.

The NYU Arts and Health Initiative and the World Health Organization are supporting the assessment of the impact of archives on participants’ mental health.

Christopher Bailey, head of arts and health at WHO, said: “There is growing evidence that participating in and enjoying the arts can help people cope, exercise their agency, develop their abilities, build community and bring Come Happy Hour, our vision is to lead a revolution in healing art that improves the physical, mental and social well-being of millions of people around the world.”

The Yazidi Cultural Archive was created in partnership with Community Jameel, Culturunners, the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Technical Envoy and “Nobody’s Listening”, a group that encourages individuals and governments to provide financial support to women and children victimized by Daesh platform.