Healing Arts Paris

Healing Arts Paris was launched to coincide with Christie's major photography sale in June 2021, where the art, health, and policy world convened for high-level discussions on the role of culture in shaping a healthier society during COVID-19. Spanning over a year, the event included a Healing Arts charity auction, a book launch and accompanying panel, and the launch of the Yazidi Cultural Archives at the Institut du Monde Arabe.

29 June 2021 | Healing Arts Charity Auction

Christie's Paris

Healing Arts Paris was launched with the inclusion of Joana Choumali's Adorn and Hiroshi Sugimoto's Catherine Howard in Christie’s prestigious Paris Photography sale. Over €60,000 were raised to support WHO’s response to COVID-19 and global arts and mental health projects.

9 June 2021 | Book Launch and Panel: L'art qui guérit (Art that Heals)

Centre Pompidou

Pierre Lemarquis (neurologist) and Laure Mayoud (psychologist and founder, Invitation à la Beauté) discussed Pierre Lemarquis' new book, L’art qui guérit (Art that Heals), exploring art's profound, real-world benefits to our mental health, taking readers on an art tour through the centuries, from the Palaeolithic to the end of the 20th century, interpreting works through the lens of their knowledge of healing. The event was held at Centre Pompidou.

26 October 2021 | Yazidi Cultural Archives Launch

Institut du Monde Arabe

This special event at the Institut du Monde Arabe marked the public launch of a new digital archive created by Yazidi women. The archives were created by 16 women as a permanent record of at-risk Yazidi cultural traditions and to support the psychological recovery and resilience of Yazidi survivors of the 2014 genocide perpetrated by Da’esh in Iraq. Comprising four online exhibitions of artwork, photography, and films, the archive is a permanent digital repository of Yazidi cultural heritage at risk.

The event spotlighted the role of art in psychological recovery, and included a platform demonstration by Google Arts & Culture, The Forgotten Voice of Sinjar VR experience by Nobody’s Listening, and commentary by Malaeen Luqman Khalaf  (Yazidi survivor and project participant), Jack Lang (President, Institut du Monde Arabe), Nathalie Bondil (Head of Museum & Exhibitions, Institut du Monde Arabe), and Haider Elias (President, Yazda).