FRIDA AT THE REFUGE

I was contacted by the charity Rise UK, after I put a call out for a space to paint a mural on social media. I wanted to create some empowering women’s artworks, and to be offered such a beautiful and important space in a women’s refuge was an honour. The mural was a gift from me to the women and children at the refuge which is a space where they were escaping domestic violence.

One of the women from the refuge would come to chat to me whilst I was painting as she stepped outside for fresh air in the garden. She showed me her paintings and told me about how painting helps her keep calm. She didn’t know who Frida Kahlo was so I described her life, her adversities etc and she went off to research her. The next time I was there to paint, she came out again and was so happy that I was there and to have discovered the story of Frida. I then decided to suggest that I could run a workshop for the women to learn to spraypaint and most importantly so they could gain confidence and pick up some useful skills for making their own spaces look and feel like home. Lets not forget that in many cases women and children have to flee a situation of domestic violence and often don’t have many possessions to start a new life.