REBECCA HAWKINS
celebrating human stories of strength & freedom
Yazidi Memorial
Mother & Justice
The Mother & Justice memorial was commissioned by Nadia's Intiative to mark the 10th anniversary of the yazide genocide.
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Background
In August 2014, the world witnessed genocide. Over the course of two weeks, the Sinjar regions of Iraq was invaded by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). ISIS militants undertook a strategized campaign to ethnically cleanse Yazidis from exsistence. Approximately 400,000 Yazidis fled to the neighboring Kurdistan Region of Iraq and tens of thousands took refuge on Mount Sinjar, where they faced near starvation. The rest, unable to flee, were killed or taken into captivity and subjected to horrific acts of violence – enslavement, forced labor, conscription, torture, and rape. The atrocities committed against the Yazidis during the genocide were severe and widespread, with over 6,400 women and children abducted, and the women being subjected to systematic sexual violence.
ISIS's actions were not only acts of terror but also calculated measures to destroy the Yazidi community. Despite efforts to address the aftermath of the genocide, justice remains elusive for the vast majority, and over 2,700 Yazidi women and children remain in captivity.
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Above, the original preliminary sketch
Symbolism
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​The symbolism within the memorial centres on a Mother and her children as the central mechanism within the scales of justice. Ensnared by the chains which will bind her to her children and their story forever, she stands tall and strong like a pillar, holding up the smaller scale as a beacon of hope and a call to action for other survivors to keep looking for their children, and to tell their stories for justice, as she has done. She stands on pages which represent the hundreds of applications for prosecutions of crimes against humanity. The top pages are inscribed with quotes by prominent people within the prosecution and within the fight to end modern slavery and sexual violence in conflict
Above: The maquette in clay​
​The chains of the scales bind her to her children and meet at a junction across her heart. They are also symbolic of her forced slavery and the fact that despite separation, she is bound to her children for eternity.
Her dress is adorned with peacock feathers - a nod to the sacred Yazidi symbol of a Peacock.
Her daughter is nestled into her, holding on to her dress at the back, and nestles in to her mothers shoulder in the way that a child seeking comfort does, and her son clasps onto her, holding her skirt, his hands enticed in the chains that bind them all.
The mother, rather than looking up triumfantly, looks down upon her children, head bowed. She will look for them for eternetly like all who have lost their children, she will see them in every child she passes in the street and she will never stop looking.
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Mother & Jusitce took 6 months to create and was seen first at the US embassy , and then unveiled in Stuttgart surounded by survivors, She is designed as a moving memorialto tour worldwide and tell the Yazidi story.
At the U.S Embassy with Kolbassia Haousso, Nadia Murad, Ambasaddor Jane Hartley, and H.R.H The Duchess of Edinburgh
