Thinking of You (The Hague)
Public Installation, The Hague, 2024
In June 2024, washing lines full of dresses filled the atrium of The Hague City Hall and the historic Lange Voorhout avenue of trees. These dresses were donated by survivors of sexual violence in conflict and their supporters around the world. Alketa's landmark public art installation was a powerful homage to survivors of sexual violence in conflict worldwide.
The artist initially conceived the concept in response to the ongoing traumatization and social exclusion of survivors of sexual violence from the 1999 war in her native Kosovo. The first Thinking of You exhibition (Prishtina, 2015) was held in the football stadium in the capital of Kosovo, receiving international acclaimand attention.
Alketa's ambition is take this installation to other countries and to collaborate in solidarity
with survivors of conflict-related sexual violence around the world. Since its initial launch in Kosovo and subsequent installations, Thinking of You has become a global symbol of remembrance and solidarity with survivors of sexual violence.
The dresses were collected from over 20 countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Colombia. The installation is a testimony of the reality of sexual violence in conflict and its human consequences, challenging a wide audience to think more deeply about the lived realities of survivors around the world
and mobilize key decision-makers to draw a red line against the use of sexual violence and take stronger action in preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence.
With The Hague celebrated as the International City of Peace and Justice, there was no better place to present this exhibition, which was in collaboration with the Mukwege Foundation, the Municipality of The Hague, and the Embassy of Kosovo in the Netherlands.
Commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on 19th June 2024, a special event was hosted that saw key figures including Nobel Prize Laureate Dr Denis Mukwege, and survivors come together to call for an end to this heinous crime against humanity.