Trauma Art Counter - Archive

Institutional Abuse and State Negligence in Youth care and Foster Care  

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

So where is God? 

(30 x 40 cm pastel/ print, 1997)

This is one of the largest private archives on trauma art on the internet.

I deliberately lift some of my privacy to show a harsh reality that often remains hidden.

MOTIVATION

This archive is the record of an impossible survival. It documents the lifelong aftermath of a childhood spent within the Dutch youth care system—a 'blueprint' of isolation and state-sanctioned violence that forged an absolute and immutable identity.  My existence stands outside the narrow boundaries of state-protected identities. Because I do not fit the sanctioned narratives of 'acceptable' diversity, I have been systematically cast out. I have been denied the protection of the law and the sanctuary of healthcare, left to process a staggering complexity in total solitude. In this country, the government does not merely remain silent; it maintains a haunting silence that masks an active hostility toward those it has already broken.
This archive is my refusal to be erased. It is the visual manifestation of a journey forced into the shadows, making visible what the state attempts to discard. I am not seeking validation from the system that abandoned me; I am manifesting the truth of a life lived in defiance of a society that offers hatred where it owes protection.
 
THE ARCHIVE

This archive consists of 538 works -525 images of artwork and 13 original photos.  Created between 2019 and 2025, the archive consist of work in a large variety of materials and techniques- from simple charcoal sketches and pencil drawings to mono print and mixed medias on canvas, in sizes it varies  from 20 x 30 cm (7.87x11.81 inches.)  till 179 x 78 cm (70.47x30.70 inches)

The twelve links on this page lead to a counter-archive  produced without any access to mental health services.
Notable sections include:
  • Section 3: Addresses (sexual) police violence from the 1980s.
  • Section 5: Explores the relation of  trauma and the body
  • Section 7: Including images from gender based violence
  • Section 12: A special project featuring original photography  and artwork that illustrates the complexities of life following a life in  state care.
 

LIVED EXPERIENCES

My work is based upon lived experiences which are officially recognized after decades. 

- Acknowledged by the Dutch State (recognition in Schadefonds - category of most severe victims of violence),  Pleegzorg Nederland and Raad voor de Kinderbescherming - the texts are  integrated in the book "Gepleegd "(2020).  The violation of ECHR3 in 1986 by the Dutch police has been admitted in private talks in 2018, at Nationale Ombudsman,  as systemic police violence for that specific period,  especially against vulnerable people.

BACKGROUND STORY

The archive is immediately related to the books "Gepleegd" (Tobi Vroegh,  2020) en "Hoe word ik Tim?"(Pumbo,  2021)  published under the pseudonym Jasper Heijting. The book "Gepleegd" (In English: Committed)" will be published in English in autumn 2026.

Read a curatorial background:

ARCHIVE PAGES

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

 

Related pages (artwork):

Tim draws back about peer - only attachment in a children's home

Soft queer rebels about queer identity in childhood

They are everywhere but nobody knows who they are about marginalized, erased and voiceless people

Related essays on this website:

Essay by Jimmy Groen The Architecture of Selective Indignation: Institutionalized Hypocrisy and the Fascistic Repression of Traumatic Sequelae

Essay by Jimmy Groen  The Architecture of Dispossession: State Violence and the Duty to Dismantle Hate.