Survival in a tent | Exhibition opening

On 3 August 2014, the „Islamic State“ (IS) attacked the Kurdish region of Shingal in Iraq, where mainly Yezidis live. Around 10,000 Yezidi men and around 7,000 women were abducted and systematically raped and enslaved for years. 400,000 Yezidis were forced to leave their homes. Alexander Fichtner documents the situation of the people after their flight and gives an insight into their lives. During a press trip to the Sheikhan refugee camp in the province of North Kurdistan, he captured sober yet intimate images. Even ten years later, many are still living in tents.

Exhibition opening with Alexander Fichtner and Emanuel Youkhana

Alexander Fichtner, born in Herten in 1979 and raised in the Ruhr region, works as a freelance photographer, journalist and artist. He studied fine art and photography at the FAdBK in Essen, where he graduated as a master student of Professor Stephan Paul Schneider. He also studied journalism and public relations at the University of Applied Sciences in Gelsenkirchen. His research has taken him to the Baltic States, the Balkans and the Caucasus. His photographic work moves between journalistic precision and artistic expression without distorting reality. It is precisely the absence of people that characterises many of his pictures and lends them a special atmosphere of silence, emptiness and isolation. Places and objects emerge as the actual narrators.

Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana is a formative voice of the Assyrian church and at the same time a committed humanitarian whose work extends far beyond the church. Born in Dohuk in northern Iraq in 1959 and originally trained as an electrical engineer, he combined a spiritual calling with social responsibility early on. As head of the aid organisation CAPNI, which he founded, he is particularly dedicated to supporting Christian minorities and other vulnerable communities in the region. His work includes concrete initiatives such as childcare, educational support and organised transfers to secondary schools, for example in Camp Sheikhan, where future prospects are created under the most difficult conditions. At the same time, he acts internationally as a spokesperson for religious freedom and the protection of minorities and brings the voices of those affected into political and civil society discourse. He will be connected online at the opening of the exhibition.

Opening Hours of the exhibition

May 5 –  June 23, 2026

Mon–Thu & Sat–Sun | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Fri | 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Until 7:00 PM on days with events

An event organised by the Fritz Bauer Forum