Cyfannol Women’s Aid Unveiled Empowering Artwork at the Home Office

London, 5th November 2024 — Cyfannol Women’s Aid recently participated in a significant event at the Home Office in London, where powerful artworks, created by members of our Horizon art therapy group, were unveiled by Jess Phillips MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls. These pieces will be displayed in the Home Office for the next year, providing a visual reminder of the impact of the Home Office’s Support for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Fund, which funds Horizon’s therapeutic group support services. 

A tribute to resilience and healing, the artworks were created as part of a powerful four-week art therapy course to mark Sexual Abuse & Sexual Violence Awareness Week. During this course, participants explored their emotions, channelling their experiences into different elements of the art each week: 

• Gilded Hands: A representation that asserts “what happened to them is not OK,” embodying their stance against abuse. 

• Mosaic Panels: These panels reflect the journey from silence to finding one’s voice, symbolising survivors’ paths to empowerment and self-expression. 

• Gilded and Back-Painted Panels: Expressing the importance of boundaries, these panels represent survivors’ reclaimed control and self-protection. 

• Butterflies: Representing the strength and resilience within survivors, these butterflies symbolise transformation and hope. 

Cyfannol’s Director of Communications & Development, Debra Richards, spoke to attendees at the unveiling about the impact of therapeutic interventions, as well as explaining the process and meaning behind each of the panels within the artworks. Reflecting on the visit, she said: 

“We are delighted to have this opportunity to showcase the creative talents of our Horizon art therapy participants. These works convey beautifully the power art has to support recovery after trauma. In loaning them to the Home Office to display over the coming year, we hope to give their staff, as well as politicians and potential future visitors, an insight into the healing journeys of survivors of sexual abuse.”  

Horizon’s therapeutic groupwork is a central part of Cyfannol’s Horizon Sexual Violence support services, offering a safe, inclusive space for survivors to connect, share experiences, and translate their journeys into creative projects like the featured artwork.  

The unveiling was followed by a “lunch and learn” about these groups and the wider project the Home Office funds Cyfannol and its partners to deliver. This session culminated in a moving video, in which Horizon group participants shared how they’ve benefitted from group activities. The video meant that survivors voices were heard on the day, with one woman summarising the impact of the support they’ve received in powerful terms: 

“The groups have been my lifeline at a really difficult time with my mental health and trauma responses. I wouldn’t be here without them.”