German-backed exhibition preserves Yazidi memory in Qamishli

Shafaq News- Qamishli

A photography exhibition in Qamishli, a predominantly Kurdish city in northeastern Syria, is documenting Yazidi life and heritage through 50 images aimed at preserving the community’s collective memory beyond the massacres and displacement that have shaped much of its recent history.

Organized on Thursday by HÁWAR.help, which has long documented crimes and abuses against Yazidis, the exhibition drew dozens of activists, journalists, cultural figures, and community members to the Al Bal café. The event is part of the German Federal Foreign Office-backed Yazidi Community Archive project, which collects personal accounts, testimonies, and other materials for a digital record of the community’s history.

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The photographs capture everyday life, religious rituals, social occasions, and shared memories, alongside families who survived massacres and people displaced from Sinjar (Shingal in Kurdish), the heartland of Iraq’s Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking ethno-religious minority with communities in Iraq and Syria.

HÁWAR.help Project Manager Nesrin Mohammed told Shafaq News that protecting the community’s culture from disappearing is “a right for all communities.” She highlighted the Yazidis’ rich artistic, social, and religious heritage, adding that the initiative also seeks to familiarize other Syrian communities with their traditions and ways of life.

Women’s rights activist Shirin Younis described the exhibition as an “important and beautiful initiative” that offers a broader portrayal of an integral part of Syrian society. She also called for the country’s different communities to participate in shaping Syria’s future, while criticizing the absence of Yazidi representation in the recently formed Syrian parliament.

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In August 2014, ISIS attacked Sinjar, carrying out mass killings and abductions and enslaving thousands of Yazidis. Kurdish Peshmerga forces retook the district in late 2015, and Iraqi forces declared Nineveh province fully liberated from ISIS two years later.

According to figures previously provided to Shafaq News by Hussein al-Qaidi, director of the Kurdistan Region’s Office for Kidnapped Affairs, ISIS abducted 6,417 Yazidis during the assault. Since then, 3,595 have been rescued, while nearly 2,500 remain missing and over 200,000 are still displaced.

Read more: The long shadow of Sinjar: Twelve years after the ISIS genocide

More than 80 mass graves have been documented, yielding the remains of 776 victims. Forensic teams have identified 297 and returned them to their families, while 479 await identification through DNA analysis.