GALLERY EXHIBITION: Cherish women’s project
An exploration of identity by women from Arc, Ananna and Stockport Women’s Centre with artist Jasmine Walne.
February 24th – April 20th 2018
We are celebrating International Women’s Day with a colourful exhibition of artwork created during a collaborative project by four groups of women in late 2017.
Since October, lead artist Jasmine Walne has been working with three groups of women; from Arc, from Stockport Women’s Centre and from Manchester Bangladeshi Women’s Organisation (Ananna). The project was designed to enable women from different communities and locations to connect, collaborate and share their experiences and stories, inspired by the Indian Summer exhibition. Together the groups explored the theme of Identity, through looking at cherished objects from the home, and documented these in a series of creative workshops, through drawing, painting, collage and mixed media. Through sharing stories about their objects and their lives they have connected with each other.
“The women have shared stories about themselves, their lives and what they hold closest, connecting with each other whilst doing so. Many of the women in each group didn’t know each other previously, and the sessions have brought them together, allowing them to feel connected and part of a community.”
The groups came together to see their collective work before Jasmine began bringing the pieces together into the large-scale final pieces of artwork due to be exhibited in the Arc Centre Gallery in time for International Women’s Day on March 8th.
“We’ve had positive feedback from the participants so far; they have expressed that they have enjoyed sharing stories with others and becoming absorbed in drawing or painting – which they felt very therapeutic and calming. Others have said the workshops have been a welcome break from their everyday lives, and that meeting new people through the workshops has been enjoyable.”
Read more about Jasmine’s process on the Arc blog.
The exhibition will also feature photographs & testimony from our partner organisation Roshni’s arts project that Arc fundraised for last year.
“This three day journey helped us to enjoy ourselves, feel who we are and explore our inner self the way we never did before.” –Mehjabeen, Roshni core group member
A huge thanks go to everyone who donated to our JustGiving campaign to make the project possible.
Our monthly Saturday Art Club will run alongside the launch of the exhibition, with February’s activity called “Drawing with Colour”, inspired by the Cherish project. The exhibition is open weekdays 10:00-16:00 and the last Saturdays of February and March 11:00-15:30, and ends at 16:00 on April 20th.
# Women’s Art Exhibition Stockport
