For the Commonwealth Games Creative City project, artists Magdalena Jasiak and Hira Butt are engaging with a Women’s Peer Support and Social Group to create a tapestry-like textile pieces (however the participants will be free to discuss any additional ideas with the artists) referring to strong and safe communities and spaces for women.
This project allows the community members into a safe space: to have a voice, raise awareness of their issues, grow their self esteem and confidence. The artists are aware of the specific areas the Women’s Peer Support members are interested in, which is: to explore self image and use the project as a place for self expression through traditional craft skills.
We want the community and the artists to collaborate with each other by creating a series of contemporary artisan meetings inspired by past times women's meetup groups, during which the women produced work and discussed womens business freely. Those meetings created space for improving health & wellbeing, raising their physical activity levels, building connections with others and improving their creativity. During the contemporary artisan meetups the community and the artists will engage in discussions around the subjects matters important to each individual group member, whilst participating in artistic wellbeing activities, creating positive affirmations and building new connections.
We would like the Women’s Peer Support and Social Group to also travel to Stryx to oversee the installation of their work for Digbeth First Friday in August, and participate in the exhibition creation - giving them professional artistic experience.
Strength Strings Easy Read PDF