Arts and Global Mental Health in Post-Conflict Settings

Introduction

This mixed-methods exploratory study examined therapeutic arts and photography with formerly captured Yazidi women in northern Iraq, alongside the participatory development of a digital cultural archive. The project explored how creative engagement could support individual wellbeing while also addressing the collective and cultural dimensions of trauma following the 2014 genocide against the Yazidi community.

The study brings together therapeutic arts, photography, and survivor-led cultural archiving as interconnected practices. Rather than focusing solely on symptom reduction, it considers how arts engagement can create opportunities for emotional expression, social connection, skill development, cultural continuity, and renewed visions for the future.

Scope

The project was implemented in northern Iraq within a Yazidi-led psychosocial support program. Twelve formerly captured Yazidi women initially enrolled, with ten completing the intervention and quantitative assessments. Participants selected either painting or photography and took part in artist-led workshops facilitated by Yazidi artists. Photography activities included visits to culturally significant sites, where participants documented cultural symbols, landscapes, daily life, and places of memory.

The research used a mixed-methods exploratory design, combining pre–post quantitative assessments with semi-structured interviews and participatory focus groups. Quantitative measures examined psychological distress, flourishing, and coping, while qualitative research explored participants’ experiences of arts engagement and their perspectives on the purpose and development of a cultural archive.

The project unfolded across two phases between 2021 and 2022. The first focused on therapeutic arts and photography workshops and their evaluation; the second focused on organizing and curating participants’ artwork and cultural documentation into a digital archive for long-term preservation and public engagement.

Insights and Deliverables

The findings provide preliminary evidence that therapeutic arts and photography may support wellbeing among formerly captured Yazidi women, with significant reductions in psychological distress and increases in flourishing. Participants described benefits including emotional expression, social connection, skill development, cultural expression, and renewed future orientation.

The project also demonstrated the potential of participant-led cultural archiving to support cultural and religious preservation, community resilience, education, and survivor agency.

Key deliverables included the Yazidi Cultural Archives, comprising four digital exhibitions—The Healing Lens, Nobody’s Listening, Stories of Thread & Ink, and The Art of Survival—alongside a virtual reality exhibition, short film, and multimedia materials documenting Yazidi heritage and first-person experiences. This work was also presented as a case study in the Jameel Arts & Health Lab's Creative Care Resource: A Resource for Artists Working in Humanitarian Contexts.

Project Team

Lab co-directors Nisha Sajnani, Stephen Stapleton, and Christopher Bailey, along with Lab post-doc researcher Elisabeth Bahr, collaborated on this research and were joined by independent researchers and members of collaborating institution Yazda and partner organization Community Jameel.