An art exhibition opens at Mansfield Museum this month (March) to showcase the creative culmination of a pioneering two-year project to support survivors of domestic or sexual abuse.
Art Power was set up as a social prescribing project to give vulnerable women, who had experienced abuse or trauma, an opportunity to explore their creative side within a safe, supportive and caring environment.
Over two years, the project has delivered 160 workshops and cultural outings and has helped more than 50 women. It drew on the museum’s extensive collections as sources of inspiration for art activities such as clay, felt, print and stitch and collage.
The Art Power exhibition will feature works produced by the women over the last two years, including the ‘Skip Dog Phoenix’, sculpture found outside the former Wilkos store. This has been reincarnated using découpage.
There will also be an exhibit called the giant ‘Cup of Conversation’. This is a 4ft mug containing two chairs collaged with women’s words from their poetry connecting with The Statue of Peace, in South Korea.
The bronze statue is a memorial erected in front of the Embassy of Japan in Seoul to commemorate the pain of ‘comfort women’ - victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during the Second World War.
The Art Power exhibition is open to the public from Saturday 2 March and launches officially with a ceremony on Friday 8 March, to coincide with International Women's Day. It runs until 26 March.
Cllr Stuart Richardson, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Growth, said: “We are extremely proud of this fantastic scheme which has sought to reach an often isolated but, sadly, a significant demographic of residents in this area.
"It is clear that this project is making a real difference to the lives of extremely vulnerable women by helping to break the long-term vicious circle of low self-esteem and poor mental and physical health caused by trauma and abuse.”
Last year Art Power was shortlisted for a Museums Association award. The project was funded by a £89,680 grant from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, a charity that aims to strengthen bonds in communities in the UK.
A further grant for £99,213 from the Foundation has now been secured to allow the scheme to continue under a different theme and utilising the museum’s significant natural history collection.
Sian Booth, Cultural Services Manager for Mansfield District Council, said: “Art Power has been such an amazing Arts on Prescription project with really tangible benefits for those who have been involved. We know that participants always leave feeling better than when they arrived.
“We are thrilled that we are going to be able to continue and expand this project with the launch of Nature Power. This will involve the Art Power team combining artistic skills with a green agenda.
“Part of this will see us taking on a Victorian greenhouse at Carr Bank Park where we plan to grow a dye garden. We have also made connections with the refugee community in Mansfield, who will be joining the project and maybe growing some plants from home.”
Art Power has been documenting the therapeutic benefits of its particular brand of social prescribing. Among the health and wellbeing bonuses of creative activities has been to build self-confidence and social networks among the women, and strengthen a sense of identity and place.
Quotations from participants
“I forgot what was going on at the house and what was going on in my life and I just use my hands to express myself.”
“I think that art is so therapeutic. It can just really clear your mind and help you to open up. It takes that pressure off; there's just a relaxed environment. You can have a laugh, you can talk; it's just so good for your wellbeing.”
“You've kind of isolated yourself a little bit and you feel sometimes like you're the only person who's gone through something rubbish. It's really good when you meet other people. We don't always discuss what we've gone through but it's obviously a common thing. I think it's important to ... rebuild different connections and ... it does that.”
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Women on the Art Power scheme were referred by support services including NIDAS (Nottinghamshire Integrated Domestic Abuse Service), NSVSS (Nottinghamshire Sexual Violence Support Services), Women’s Aid and the Jigsaw Support Scheme, a local charity that supports people with mental health issues, as well as through social prescribing.
The district has a higher than average incidence of domestic abuse and is also in the lowest 20% of all local authorities in England for cultural engagement and highest 20% of most deprived districts in the country.
It is the first time the museum has been involved in a scheme of this kind and it is part of an ongoing Mansfield District Council Cultural Services programme of ‘arts on prescription’ at the theatre and museum to help address health and wellbeing challenges in the district.
These schemes align with a wider set of council Wellbeing priorities to improve the quality of people's lives in the district and objectives of the Mansfield Health Partnership, which was set up in 2019.
For more information about Art Power and Nature Power email Tamsin Greaves at tgreaves@mansfield.gov.uk. Find out more about domestic violence and abuse and how to report it on the council website here. (opens in new window)