Women who lost loved ones in mosque attacks create art exhibition to help journey through grief

Women who lost loved ones during the March 15 Christchurch terror attacks have created a powerful new art exhibition ahead of the fourth anniversary of the atrocity.

Workshops for Raising Sakinah: Finding Peace began at the Christchurch Art Centre in 2021, the women selecting photos that had deep personal meaning relating to their loved ones which also communicated healing and peace.

They were then helped to transform the photographs into linocut plates, which they used to create their final prints. The exhibition which will go on display at the Tūranga library later this month.

Wednesday marks four years since a terrorist gunman opened fire at the Masjid An-Nur (Al Noor Mosque) and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, killing 51 people and injuring 40.

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Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called it one of New Zealand’s darkest days.

The women who lost loved ones were helped in their work by New Zealand artist and photographer, Janneth Gil.

To make the project more special Rebecca Parnham, who helped run the workshops, collected tributes left outside the mosques and the Botanic Gardens at Hagley Park, which Gil then used to create ink for the art work.

Dr Kiran Munir, who lost her husband in the terror attack and participated in the workshops, said the ink was a metaphor for the outpouring of love and support from the public.

“It was also intended to charge the prints with the stories and experiences of individuals in order to help others moving through grief, and to invite viewers to see them as an embodiment of healing, unity and social cohesion in the context of diversity,” she said.

Parnham’s role throughout the workshop was to support and create a safe space for the women.

“Many didn’t know each other very well before … They would only see each other at meetings, so for once it was bringing them together for an opportunity to spend positive time with each other,” she said.

The healing workshops were a “long journey” due to Covid lockdowns, but Parnham said this was good because “grief was a long journey.”

Ambreen Naeem, who lost her husband and son at Al Noor Mosque, attended the Finding Peace workshops and said they helped her on her healing journey by expressing her ideas and feelings through art.

The initiative of the exhibition comes as part of Gil’s project Darkness Into Light, which she has undertaken since the attack and includes a photo book to support to those affected by the tragedy and to promote social change.

Gil said the exhibition would amplify the women’s voices and help communicate their messages to the wider community to find ways of healing that connects “beliefs of peace and tranquillity and spirituality, or Sakinah.”

She wanted to encourage people to remember those lost in the terror attack, reconsider their own unconscious biases that lead to racism and discrimination, and to encourage understanding and acceptance of diversity.

“We hope the exhibition will engage with a variety of people, open conversations, and encourage greater connection and empathy, which is needed to create a more cohesive society,” Gil said.

A documentary called Finding Peace has been made about the women’s journey and will play during the exhibition on March 26 from 2pm. This will then be followed by a panel discussion with members of the Muslim community.

Funded by the Philip Carter Trust, the Raising Sakinah: Finding Peace exhibition will be held at Christchurch’s Tūranga library from March 25 until May 21.