The Realms of the Unseen

A Counter-Archive, created between 2019 and 2025 on seventeen years of state sanctioned violence and fascist police violence in the Netherlands by Jimmy Groen 

 

So where is God?  

From a destroyed collection, orig. pastel on paper  50 x 70 cm 1997

Motivation and background

The artworks in this archive were never made to be published, they are  the results of a very personal process that started in 1992 to transform personal struggles and feelings from my childhood into images.  The driving force behind publishing this archive and creating this website is simple.

When a state refuses to grant restorative and reparative justice for those many citizens who paid with everything they had—losing their parents, children, family, home, childhood, identity, and future—with a government that actively concealed these life stories, while blaming the victims for the complex consequences of state -sanctioned violence and neglect -making that reality visible becomes an act of absolute necessity.

My  experience with state sanctioned violence, neglect and erasure in childhood  is similar to the ten thousands of children that were forced into the youth care system. Despite official  governmental apologies in 2019 following  the Dutch  De Winter Committee, investigating violence in the youth care system whose report was euphemistically entitled "Insufficiently protected"  the Dutch government still shows deep contempt for the victims of their actions. The truth is, we were never protectedby the government  not than and not now in 2026. We were and are the target of hatred, exclusion and suppression. 

Unseen

In my case, the Dutch system actively protected the abusers and further complicated my life, trying to socially kill my existence: 

 

  • In 1995, The Dutch state honored the foster mother  with a State Medal in the Order of Orange Nassau (Digibron 14-09-1995, Goud Woudenberg).
  • The official criminal complaint filed by my brother and me in 1996 (within the legal term) against the foster parents about  their long term abuse and torture against three foster children was  dismissed by the Public Prosecutor as sepot 41 (insufficient grounds to investigate). The complaint included  special war -techniques from the Dutch -Indonesian war of 1949  as described in " De brandende Kampongs van Generaal Spoor" by Rémy Limpach, 2016) against foster children applied by the foster father 
  • Although tested for the highest academic track (VWO) in primary school, the foster parents deliberately obstructed my chances for education by sending me to a lower tier school. In later life the official rules blocked my chances   to study in the Netherlands (in IT, archaeology or at art academy)
  • Five years after leaving the system, in 1986, I was confronted with shocking   antisemitic rhetoric  and  with Nazi based violent methods and torture by the Dutch police, a direct consequence of a life in  the youth care system, resulting in complex identity problems 
  • I have been actively rejected by  Dutch mental health care  for almost my entire life.   Organizations for support  such as  MIND and Slachtofferhulp choose the side of the government and never took my experiences serious. Moreover, in Dutch mental health care you are regarded as 'responsible and guilty for the consequences of the the youth care system " while therapists choose the side of the oppressive government instead of the victims 
  • Rejected with great contempt from all diversity and inclusion organizations in the Netherlands because an LGBTQ+- identity should be 'born this way'. A lifelong, persistent blueprint from (state) imposed  issues is 'invalid'. 
  • Like many thousands others from youth care, we never received any reparative justice, rehabilitation or protection by the Dutch state in later life. This creates a frozen life  reality- a life that never really starts. There has been no access to education in later life, no support and steps to create  participation in absence of a social background. 

This archive is a testimony of what I personally experienced as a continuous, lifelong war in "peacetime" in the Netherlands. The human rights violations (ECHR 3 and8) by the Dutch state from 1964 to 1981 and 1986 have been included in the newsletter of the EG (European Group of Deviance and Social Control) .

A formal petition to the European Union regarding the human rights violations by the Dutch state under case number 0754/2026 was dismissed by the European Union in 2026. 

Recognition and Apologies

Contrarily, formal 'recognition' about the institutional violence was given  by independent official bodies in the Netherlands.

  • Schadefonds Geweldsmisdrijven  (Dutch government injury Compensation Fund)  The  violence in youth care 1964-1981 was recognized in category 6 (most severe violence) in 2020 after 39 years, and the 1986 police sexual violence  was also recognized in the  category of most severe violence (category 6 of Schadefonds) in 2026 , after 4O years.  
  • Official personal apologies were received from Pleegzorg Nederland (Dutch Foster Care) and the Raad voor de Kinderbescherming (Child Protection Council), in 2018 and 2019 published in " Gepleegd", written under the pseudonym Jasper Heijting 

About the Archive 

The approximately 600 artworks in this archive span a period of six years (2019-2025) and are the saved part of a much larger collection. Early art  has been destroyed in 2002 and later in 2018, comprising hundreds of works including many  3D objects.

In addition to the work in the archive, 13 original photographs show a lived reality.

This archive coexists alongside the autobiographical books Gepleegd and Hoe word ik Tim? written under the pseudonym Jasper Heijting, see in the section Published Books on this page with a download link to the book Gepleegd.

    So this is freedom?  Pastel 50 x65 cm from Identity restoration studio 2023

    Content Warning

    This archive contains raw spontaneous depictions of institutional violence and trauma, that some people may find disturbing.

    PUBLISHED  ZINES

     

    Only boys... 25 portraits of Queer identity of young boys

    English

    2023  EAN   9789464810332

    Hidden pain  35 Works on Violence in the Dutch Youth Care System

    English, French, Dutch

    2021   EAN   9789464431926

    Published books by Jimmy Groen written under the pseudonym

    'Jasper Heijting'

    Gepleegd   [English title: Committed]  Gepleegd, published by  Tobi Vroegh Amsterdam

    Editors: Ilona Barsony, Claire Hülsenbeck, Anouk de Jong, Rohan Karbet 

    Executive Summary 

    Jasper Heijting's 2020 ego document, Gepleegd,  ["Committed"] offers a candid, firsthand account of enduring long-term abuse  and torture within the Dutch foster care system. This autobiography highlights the author's struggle with extreme trauma,  imposed gender issues  and fragmentation of the mind, written from the child perspective.  The book provides crucial context for understanding Jimmy's trauma art archive.

    Language: Dutch

    Available in the libraries of the Netherlands and Flanders and bookstores.

    2020  EAN   9789078761785

    Read the first revised chapter of this book  in English

    A first raw translation in English of the book Gepleegd (Committed)  was created by AI (€96,-); this translation is not perfect but offers a profound insight in the basic story of the archive. It is free available on terms of CC BY-NC-ND (2026)

    Download the full autobiographical book Committed in PDF as a first raw translation in English language by AI

    "The killing of the birds", from:  Committed

    pastel on paper 50 x 65 cm

    Hoe word ik Tim? 

    Executive Summary 
    Hoe word ik Tim? ("How Do I Become Tim?") is the second volume of Jasper Heijting’s ego-documentary series. It traces the lifelong confusion of state-sanctioned identity destruction and imposed attachment issues, and details the psychological phenomenon of a fragmented inner world. In 1998 Jimmy was officially labeled with a 'dissociative identity disorder (DID,) but never received any mental health care or support.

    The book describes the desperate search to become a boy, after foster care,  the exclusion from society and mental health care, the problems with time, age and belonging, and finally the construction of  a tangible Realm of Boys to live in.

    Most importantly, this volume documents the exact historical turning point where the author begins to use raw visual art  as his sole mechanism for survival when all societal, medical, and legal institutions utterly fail him. The story itself is a metaphor for a fragmented identity.

    Language: Dutch. Image cover: Jo Coort

    Available in the library of Flanders (Belgium) and bookstores.

    2021   EAN  9789464068153