Life in the time of a Pandemic is an ambitious creative project which aims to shift the discourse of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Scotland to ensure the experiences of Muslim and BME women are neither ignored nor dismissed.
When Covid-19 hit we battled the same storm, but we were not in the same boat.
The project has three distinct phases:
Narrate – participants join female-led online conversation spaces to explore their experiences of lockdown
Create – working with artists Raman Mundair, Annie George and Katherine MacKinnon, participants translate their experiences into audio, visual and written art pieces
Elevate – the work produced and stories shared in the first two phases are showcased in an interactive presentation, digitally touring across the websites of art galleries and mental health organisations nationwide.
All participants are being compensated for their time and have access to interactive online workshops delivered by female Muslim and BME mental health professionals in order to help process some of the challenging themes which may arise. The digital presentation will be built by Code Your Future.
DETAILS:
Creative Workshops:
Writing our Stories with Annie George
Participants must attend all three workshops and will receive a £30 voucher upon completion. Spaces extremely limited.
Poetry, Image and Film with Raman Mundair
Participants must attend all three workshops and will receive a £30 voucher upon completion. Spaces extremely limited.
Postcards and Poetry with Katherine MacKinnon
Participants attend one workshop only and will receive a £10 voucher upon completion.
Meet the Mental Health team!
Mary Anne Ibe is the project’s Art Psychotherapist Consultant. Mary Anne is helping ensure the entire project is informed by containing, therapeutic processes in order to keep the team and participants safe during planning, delivery and reflection. She is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT) where she is a Race and Culture Representative. Mary Anne completed her Art Psychotherapy training at Queen Margaret University and for the past eight years has worked with children, families and young adults in a variety of settings, but mainly in looked after care. Currently, Mary Anne is a Therapeutic Service Co-coordinator, line managing a creative therapy team providing face to face/online support within a community based charity in Fife. She has also completed training in Developmental Dyadic Psychotherapy (DDP), Level 1 and 2 trained.
Meriem Gawi is a qualified integrative counsellor. Meriem is a registered member of the BACP and has been in practice for over 5 years. She runs a private practice in North London where she provides culturally sensitive counselling to adults and young people. She also works at the Nightingale psychiatric hospital as a sessional therapist. She has an extensive career that spans over 25 years of working with clients from all communities and cultures.
She previously worked as an Arabic and French interpreter and community advocate before training as a Children and Families social worker. Following this, for over 12 years, she supported survivors of domestic abuse and worked with over 70 individual women and held over 40 Women Support Groups each year.
Meriem has previously worked at Woman’s Trust and the Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP). In 2012, she co-produced Al-Aman toolkit for professionals which aims to increase professionals’ understanding of specific cultural and religious issues underpinning domestic abuse within the Arab community including forced marriage, female genital mutilation and the so-called honour-based abuse.
Get involved, keep up to date and join in the project discussion via our social media channels using the hashtag #NarrateCreateElevate.
Instagram: @AminaMWRC
Twitter: @AminaMWRC
Facebook: @amina.mwrc.1
For press enquiries please contact vicky@mwrc.org.uk.
