Licht

In 2014, ISIS carried out attacks on the Yazidis, a religious minority in northern Iraq. After executing a large part of the male population, they captured the women. By gynaecological examinations, the captured women were divided into three groups: married women with children, married women without children, and virgin women and girls. Considered as spoils of war, over 7000 women and girls have become sexual slaves to the ISIS fighters, enduring repeated rapes, subsequent forced abortions and torture.

Because of the industrial scale of the sexual violence, this story has become much more than an isolated atrocity. It has become the iconic story of the violation of the female body today.

The immensity of this tragedy leaves it uncommunicable. How does one share or understand an experience so universal yet so profoundly rooted and locked in the body, in the space that precedes and mutes language? For this new creation Tea Tupajić calls upon the force and depth of theatre to enter where language and other mediums cannot. Throughout a period of one year, she invites four Yazidi women to retreat and to embark on a journey of preparation for the performance.

The creation will only be performed a handful of times in a few cities. On a naked theatre stage, the women share the most visceral experiences and memories of the body. The body tells the story in words, shakes and faints, connecting with the spectator in a collective, yet intimate encounter.

The nights resemble a vigil. An expulsion of the past wounds, a healing and an ecstatic celebration of survival.