1. The purpose of the project and development during the project period

The RJ-founded project “Gilgamesh: Untold Traumatic Experiences of Vulnerable Refugees” (hereafter “the Gilgamesh project”) aimed to make the untold experiences of minority refugee populations visible and illustrate how the fear of extinction is embedded in their collective narratives. In order to visualize this, the project team organized and curated an art exhibition in the Världskulturmuseerna (Gothenburg); prepared a documentary movie and organised a specific workshop at the University of Gothenburg.

The Gilgamesh project is a successful example for an inter-disciplinary collaboration across arts, humanities and social science research. The project is administered by Världskulturmuseerna (hereafter “the Museum”). In order to realise the activities, the researchers involved collaborated with art curators, film editors, NGO representatives and scholars from diverse disciplines focusing on similar topics. Briefly, the project activities are as follows:

Workshop on Untold Experiences of Vulnerable Refugees
(21-23 September 2017, Gothenburg)
The workshop took place at the Centre on Global Migration (CGM), University of Gothenburg with the participation of international scholars and NGO representatives who have expertise on the situation of vulnerable refugee groups originating from the Middle East.

The workshop was structured along several thematic sessions where the participants discussed different vulnerable communities and their survival strategies, and focused on the trauma aspect that these groups are experiencing on different dimensions. A synopsis report about the workshop has been published on the project website.

Art exhibition “Untold | Unheard | Vulnerable | Refugees”
(19 May 2018 – ongoing)
Preparations for the art exhibition started from the beginning of the project. Together with the curators in the Museum, the project team designed and curated the exhibition which displayed the selected artwork of twelve international artists who are members of the Assyrian and Yazidi communities, minority groups who are faced with extinction and forced migration. Their artwork visualises the suffering of these minority groups, their fear of extinction, and their hopes for the future. The exhibition opened on 19 May 2018 with a reception event at the Världskulturmuseerna in Gothenburg where local artists, journalists, politicians, the research team, and a victim of the IS-genocide (Farida Abbas Khalaf – https://www.yazda.org/survivors) has delivered speeches. The chief editor of the cultural section of the Swedish daily Sydsvenskan, Rakhel Chukri interviewed Farida Abbas and wrote an article about the exhibition. Around hundred guests participated in the reception event.

In order to be more inclusive and cost-effective, the team designed the exhibition in a digital format where the whole exhibition space is filled with projections in various sizes of the collected artworks. Some followed a looped pace while others are highlighted. With this concept, we have provided visitors to walk into the visual world of the artists. In the exhibition room we have also provided subtle songs from the minority groups, which is something adding to the evocating atmosphere of the room. On a specific screen, with headphones and a seat in front of it, the documentary “Pomegranate” is shown in certain time intervals. In order to get the visitors engaged with the exhibition, a notebook has been placed in the exhibition room. Unfortunately, it disappeared during the ending of the exhibition.

The Museum is planning to keep the exhibition open until the end of 2018. Thereafter, the Museum is interested in moving the exhibition to Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm, however, a decision for this has not been taken.

Documentary film “Pomegranate: Voices of Sinjar”
The project team prepared the short documentary “Pomegranate: Voices of Sinjar” (see the video at: https://vimeo.com/283899553, password: yazda), which is based on the testimonies of three female survivors of genocide perpetrated by ISIS in 2014. The project team interviewed twelve female survivors in Germany and Sweden. The interview material transcribed and translated into English. Based on this material, a manuscript for the documentary was prepared together with the editors from DragonLight Film Company (https://dragonlightfilms.com), Cambridge. The complete production of the documentary took 8 months and the documentary is released together with the opening of the art exhibition in Gothenburg.

Pomegranate has received many positive reviews for being one of the best documentaries prepared about the victims of IS-genocide by providing a non-intermediated lens on survivors and their narratives.

Pomegranate in Cambridge Festival of Ideas
(20 October 2018)
The documentary was screened in Cambridge Festival of Ideas, which is one of the most exciting and dynamic occasions in the Cambridge cultural calendar. The Festival of Ideas focuses on fuelling the public’s interest in and involvement with the arts, humanities and social sciences in a unique and inspiring way. The screening of Pomegranate attracted a highly engaged group of audience. In the evaluation of festival activities, the documentary top scored. This was an additional exhibition that wasn’t initially included in the project plan and budget.

Art exhibition at Assyriska Kulturhuset, Västra Frölunda
(15-18 October 2018)
The Assyrian Kulturhus in Västra Frölunda borrowed the art exhibition, to display it during their 30-year anniversary, held in October. It was well received by many people, both adults and youth of immigrant background, and a first of its kind to be held in one of the suburbs of Gothenburg. This was also an additional exhibition that wasn’t initially included in the project plan and budget.

The project website
In order to display the project activities and the artwork displayed in the exhibition, a specific project website has been launched (www.vulnerable-groups.com/gilgamesh).

2. Execution in brief and follow-up on project goals

The project commenced in February 2017, organized periodical project meetings, and worked simultaneously on the three main project activities. The team has organised the workshop as scheduled on time with the participation of 25 scholars, NGO representatives and community leaders.

The work for the exhibition has started immediately after the kick-off. Together with the curators in the Museum, the team designed the general framework of the exhibition, and then, collected and curated the artwork of twelve artists on time. The exhibition is opened according to the calendar of the Museum.

For the documentary, the project team first contacted several filmmakers. However, at the end the team decided to make shootings on their own. One of the team members shoot interviews in Germany and Sweden with more than 12 victims in October 2017. These interviews are transcribed and translated into English. Thereafter, the project team has prepared a manuscript together with the editors, and gathered secondary sources for the documentary. This intensive work has been finalised in March 2018 before the official opening of the exhibition in May 2018.

The project aimed to make the less-known experiences of minority refugee populations visible, illustrate how the fear of extinction is embedded in their collective narratives, and from an interventionist perspective, empower the concerned groups. Looking at the conducted activities and created products, the project has reached its identified aims and realised its objectives.

• The workshop has put the issue of endangerment of these minority cultures on the table and provided a contextual discussion about the challenges these groups are facing through forced migration.
• Both the exhibition and the documentary have contributed positively to the visibility of these groups and their problems in the most effective way by using creative arts.
• Both the documentary and the exhibition share the same methodological approach to empower the groups engaged: While the exhibition is built on the artwork of artists who are member of these groups, in the documentary the survivors tell their experiences and talk about their sufferings without any external narration.

3. Experience and knowledge from the project

The project team has gained a substantial experience in maximising the impacts of their research both among the scientific community and in the broad society. The interdisciplinary activities designed within this project showed the team how academic research can have societal impacts through the use of the creative sector.

Furthermore, the organization of the art exhibition and preparation of the documentary are unique examples for showing how research conducted within Humanities and Social Science can be combined with arts. For many reasons, the populations being exposed to violence are not able to express their pain in verbal or other academic means, thus, making art, music, and other cultural artefacts even more important as one way of communication. This has taught us to find alternative ways to give voice to those being most affected.

Another important experience or conclusion is the importance of planning the impact strategy and dissemination channels from the very beginning of all academic research. This dimension usually is not prioritised in many research projects until the end. We believe that academic research should include a powerful impact strategy in their planning, and this has to be seen as an integral part of research which will bring the academic engagement closer to the needs of society and establish fruitful communication links between the two. With this regard, creative art sectors play a significant role in facilitating these communication links and force academics to think out of the box and develop innovative models. The Gilgamesh project can be seen as a successful example which has already influenced several academic projects, such as Horizon 2020 RESPOND project (www.respondmigration.com).

Webpages, possible publications and links:

Project website: www.vulnerable-groups.com/gilgamesh

Workshop report:
http://vulnerable-groups.com/gilgamesh/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/Report_GILGAMESH-WORKSHOP.pdf

Documentary video: https://vimeo.com/283899553 (password: yazda)