For the Wounds That Cannot Be Seen

On July 22, 2011, a car bomb killed eight people and damaged the executive government quarter in Oslo, Norway. Hours later, 69 kids were killed at a summer camp on the island of Utøya.  About 500 people, more than half under the age of 18, survived the massacre. They live their lives now, but with scars that are seen, and many more that are unseen.

Fifteen-year-old Iselin Rose Borc recalls: “In the period after Utoya I had a really hard time sleeping. I was afraid of the dark and suffered dreadful nightmares. My mom and I decided that getting a dog might help me, so I got Athene. Now she sleeps on top of my stomach every night” (no easy thing: Notice her new dog’s breed and size).

Norwegian photographer, Andrea Gjestvang, won the Sony World Photography Award for her moving collection of portraits of surviving teenagers of the Utoya massacre, including the photograph you see here. Her project was published as a book called “En dag i historien” by Pax. See more of her incredible pictures here.

2 thoughts on “For the Wounds That Cannot Be Seen”

  1. My daughter suffered PTSD from rape among the thousand other fears with jump in colluded with neigh a teenager. Zombie has her saying th word love ALL the time. He brought us out of dark corners.

    • No family should have to go through this, Victoria. We’re so sorry this happened to your daughter, and the agony you must have endured as her mother, we can’t imagine. Thank goodness for Zombie! Best wishes for continued healing, you are in our thoughts.

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