The Survivor is a multi-channel video installation based on the testimony of Jackleen, a young Yezidi girl who was held captive by ISIS. Set against the serene and seemingly untouched landscape of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, the installation juxtaposes the calm beauty of the environment with Jackleen’s unsettling account of the atrocities she endured during her captivity. Her demeanor, strikingly composed and measured as she recounts these horrors, contrasts sharply with the gravity of her experiences.

 

In this landscape of wildflowers, which evoke a sense of innocence and the simple beauty of existence, Jackleen’s presence represents a powerful dichotomy: the fragile resilience of childhood amidst the brutal realities of war and oppression. The flowers and the child herself symbolize the (conceivable) lightness and potential for joy that coexist with the weight of trauma and violence.

 

Central to the installation is a ‘sandplay’ session, a therapeutic practice involving the use of miniature figures within a sandbox. This therapeutic intervention allows Jackleen to express her experiences and emotions in a way that transcends verbal communication, offering a symbolic space where trauma can be explored and, in some ways, processed. The sandtray in the middle of the installation, surrounded by figures, becomes a focal point of both healing and storytelling, visually grounding the narrative within a realm of therapy and symbolic play.

The Survivor thus combines the visual beauty of nature with the stark reality of trauma, creating a space where the viewer is invited to reflect on the contrast between external serenity and internal suffering, while also witnessing the fragile process of recovery through therapeutic intervention. The multi-channel installation, with its layered narrative and central sandtray, provides a poignant and immersive experience that underscores the resilience of the human spirit, particularly that of a child, in the face of unimaginable adversity.​

​

The work was exhibited as an installation @ Coup De Ville in Sint-Niklaas in September 2020

 

About Coup de Ville: The fourth edition of Coup de Ville in 2020 – ‘Chasing Flowers’ – will be a quest for flowers. For the first time since its launch WARP has given the artists a specific theme. The flower is a unique symbol connecting nature and culture. A question is, how we can – through art – create space where not only economical, but also ecological and social values are at stake.