My friend, Marcia, recently spent 6 weeks in Nicaragua creating art w/children & women. The final week she taught women how to make collaged accordion books, similar to the one she made in my studio. As Marcia did with her own book, she invited the women to tell 'their stories' on the pages of their books.
Marcia is back from Nicaragua & shares these reflections.
"What I want to remember is how powerful the making of the art was in sharing our stories & faith. As my translator said, 'I did not know art could be so powerful in helping someone share their life story & in healing hearts.'
Women shared stories of sexual abuse, rape, loss of loved ones early in life, infidelity, shunning & shaming. The art helped with getting the stories out & relief for the hearts of the women.
There were many moments of prayer & then more sharing. Time was sacred with these special women. I was undone in my heart several times & wept like Jesus wept over Lazurus's death."
Marcia continues to be a great artist to mentor. She's combining her own story with what she learned in my studio & is now multiplying the possiblities! Her next stops are Italy & Hungary!
For more of Marcia's Nic. experiences-read her blog, Creative Call Nicaragua.
Lower photo: Marcia in pink shirt in Nic. w/the women & their books.
Awesome! It is so good to see this bearing fruit.
ReplyDeleteAre you overwhelmed, Marge? These women have been released from the prison of pain. It would be worth following up with them in a bit to hear the impact of His mercy on their lives. Have you ever heard from others that you shared with?
It is awesome! The telling of ones story through art sure is powerful. I am not surprised it worked once again. A key element, not shared in her reflections, was of Marcia being transparent, sharing her own painful story to a group of women who thought all white women from the US have it all together. We have no problems! NOT! I encouraged Marcia to have someone continue working with the women and that is happening. I usually do not get to hear back. It is up to the organization people to do the follow-up or for leaders present in the workshops, to continue using the story rope etc with other groups. The one group I did hear from was World Relief Rwanda, where the support group they started in 2007 as a result of the workshop was on going. Thanks for checking in Kirsten!
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