This project aimed to make visual arts more accessible to women in deprived areas and enable them to use the creation of artworks to open up conversations about their traumas and healing process. It also aimed to enable to women to develop skills that they can apply to future employment opportunities, such as:

• Cooperation

• Building trust in relationships

• Problem solving

• Seeing a project through from inception to completion

• Managing time

• Pricing products

• Sales

• Engaging with customers

• Presenting their work

When I wrote down a goal of being exhibited as a major aim for this year, I genuinely thought I was aiming too high. I wouldn’t describe myself as confident but this year, I told myself, is about being brave. The encouragement from my husband was invaluable as he was the one that got the conversation going but I had to be brave and share my artwork and wait for it to be ‘judged’. Lucky for me, Trevor (the gallery manager at The Aviary) has excellent taste and fell in love with my hibiscus and bee prints in particular.