Realms of the Unseen | Jimmy Groen

So where is God? (30 x 40 cm pastel/ print, 1997)

The Realms of the Unseen

A Counter-Archive of 17 Years of Institutional Abuse and State Negligence in Youth care and Foster Care in the Netherlands

INTRODUCTION

The Dutch State presents itself as a protector of human rights, yet its actions have left thousands to navigate a shattered reality. For those impacted by violence in the youth care system, identity is not a foundation, but something altered and scarred by trauma; a displacement of gender, sexuality, and self. My work within this counter-archive is an act of survival. Shunned by healthcare systems and marginalized by both LGBT and minority/diversity organizations (for not being a "born this way" individual) , these 600 pieces represent the only avenue left to me. In the face of institutional betrayal, this art is my only evidence of existence—the only place where I am not erased.

MOTIVATION: Beyond the Euphemisms

While this archive stems from personal experience, it is not merely a private story; it is a visual testimony of the systemic destruction that has affected many thousands of children in the Netherlands and in the world. In 2019, when the Dutch De Winter Commission published its report on violence in the Dutch youth care system, they chose the title “Insufficiently Protected". ” This is a sickening euphemism. For a lot of children who lived through it, the truth was: Not Protected at All. Unlike the victims of natural disasters, wars, or the plight of refugees, our childhoods were not captured by cameras, nor were they reported in newspapers. Our erasure took place in the secrecy of institutions and foster families. The tragedy is that this violence and exclusion did not end when we left the system. We were abandoned in a profound void that remained unknown to society and were silenced and erased by the state.

THE CONTENT: Systemic Violence and Imposed Identity Trauma

This archive is a record of seventeen years (1964–1981) of systemic violence and long- term systematic gender-based torture. Official complaints of my brother and me were dismissed by the Public prosecutor in 1996. In 2023 I discovered that in 1995 my foster mother, who severely abused three foster children was honored by the state in 1995 with a golden medal in the Order of Orange Nassau.

This archive exposes the devastating legacy of 'peer-oriented attachment'—experimental methods forced upon children in 1960s Dutch institutions. This created a permanent blueprint for identity and belonging that cannot be pathologized; it is a sane, healthy response to insane, inhumane conditions. This bond transcends time; our peers from that era remain our peers forever. We carry this rebuilt identity with pride, though we have no flag and no letter to represent us.

For the State to now marginalize, ignore, and prosecute victims for the consequences of its own design is the ultimate form of gaslighting. In its actions, the State has violated the most essential human right: the right to develop a healthy identity and exist as a human being. Tim and Alex depicted this in our project "They are everywhere but nobody knows who they are".

THE COUNTER-ARCHIVE

Former collections of art (1992- 2018) have been almost destroyed for personal reasons. Consisting of approximately 600 works (created primarily between 2019–2025, with a selection of photographs of the original work from 1992–1997), this presented collection serves as a counter-archive. Where the state sought to silence me, this is my voice. What the State once dismissed as 'Sepot code 41' ((insufficient evidence/technical dismissal), we document here in full. Denied access to adequate mental health services for most of my life, creativity became a vital necessity for processing and communication. The archive is still being expanded.

The archive features a diverse range of techniques—from pencil drawings and mixed media to acrylic on canvas and mono print, organized across 13 sections:

Section 3: Addresses systemic (sexual) police violence from the 1980s.
Section 5 & 7: Explore the relationship between trauma, the body, and gender-based violence.
Section 12: A project illustrating the destruction of identity during and following state care

APOLOGIES AND LIVED EXPERIENCES
This work is rooted in lived experiences that the Dutch State only acknowledged decades later (Schadefonds 2020 [cat. most severe victims of violence] , Pleegzorg Nederland, and the Child Care and Protection Board 2018/2019). Although these apologies are very valuable, there has never been any reparative justice. This especially essential because of the basic (hostile) attitude of government entities in later life towards victims of their own violence. An example of the complex aftermath is the 1986 violation of ECHR Article 3 in a Dutch police cell, confirmed by the National Ombudsman in 2018 as systemic police violence rather than an isolated incident, documented in this archive. These violations have been formally reported to the Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council (OHCHR).

A National Monument Youth Care for all the victims of violence in the Dutch youth care system since the eighteenth century will be unveiled in Zuiderpark Apeldoorn, which brings things for me full circle: its location is less than a kilometer from where I was born and where I was torn from my home as a two-and-a-half-year-old toddler.

WRITTEN CONTEXT

This archive is directly connected to the autobiographical books "Gepleegd" (read the first chapter in English here) and "Hoe word ik Tim? " published under the pseudonym Jasper Heijting in 2021 and 2022. These books are available in the library of the Netherlands and Flanders.

The Realms of the Unseen:

Content Warning

This archive contains raw and heavy depictions of institutional violence and trauma. For those people with vulnerabilities, please engage with these works at your own pace and prioritize your well-being.

archive #1 Institutional violence,youth/ foster care 1-45

archive #2 Institutional violence, foster care 46-98

archive #3 Police violence and article 3 ECHR 99-120

archive #4 Institutional violence, youth/ foster care 121-162

archive #5 Trauma Art and the Body 163-185

archive #6 Institutional violence, youth and foster care 186-232

archive #7 Institutional violence in foster care: gender based violence 233-280

archive #8 Institutional betrayal and violence in foster care 281-325

archive #9 Trauma art about youth care and violence in foster care 326-377

archive #10 Trauma art about violence in foster care378-428

archive #11 Trauma art 1992-1997 (Portraits, cult?/ Residential) 429-486

archive #12 (Project) Photographs and artwork: "Stigma by Design: The Enduring Pulse of the State 487-538