In November of 2023, I was a participating artist at the Strokes of Resilience: Empowerment Through Art exhibition hosted by Saksi and the Women’s Aid Organisation. The exhibition, held at GMBB Bukit Bintang, was to raise funds for WAO’s work with survivors of domestic violence on International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and in conjunction with the annual 16 days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence campaign.
My piece for the exhibition was titled Mimosa. It was a digitally-illustrated piece depicting a woman with flowers sprouting from her body surrounded by dark hands reaching out to grope at her. The piece seeks to capture the relationship between self-love and strength in the face of gender-based (specifically sexual) violence. The flowers in the background are: daffodils, which represent reformation; white carnations which represent purity; and orchids, which represent strength. Meanwhile, the flowers the woman is holding are the flowers for which the piece was named as the official flower of International Women’s Day.
A small piece of trivia about the piece that I didn’t disclose anywhere is that the opacity of the outreaching hands was purposefully not made 100%. They were left semi-transparent, with the ability to see colours through them. This is because even oppressors and perpetrators are coloured by their own traumas and experiences, and are not exempt from being affected by them. It, of course, does not justify their actions and abuse toward others, but it does help us understand them a little more.