On Tuesday, 22 December 2015, in conjunction with (Indonesian) national Mothers’ Day, four Balinese female painters exhibited their artworks to mark the launch of “She Paints Her Sky”, taking place at Krishnalila Foundation in Denpasar.
She Paints Her Sky (“SPHS”) is a program of the African Asian Women Network (Afrosian) – one of Krishnalila Foundation’s (KLF’s) working units for women in the African and Asian regions – which takes arts as means to empowerment using psychosocial approach. The program was launched by women of Bali, who are housewives, mothers, and also painters, and where amongst them are also victims of violence against women, in the form of a painting exhibition. In this occasion, the painters were coordinated by Vony Dewi, one of the participating artists in the upcoming painting exhibition. Other participating female artists are Ayu Fenny, Citra Sasmita, and Listya Wahyuni.
More about She Paints Her Sky project.
She Paints Her Sky art exhibition and project launching. Photos by June Arya
The name of the project, “She Paints Her Sky”, was chosen to mean: (1) that the project aims at women of all ages, which is shown by the word “she”; (2) that activities of the project is related to fine arts, which is shown with the word “paint”; and (3) from consolidating the two words with “her sky”, which means her own world, then “She Paints Her Sky” is a project rooted from fine arts, conducted by female artists (or those wanting to be artists) to empower themselves towards their desired future. The Mothers’ Day, which falls on 22 December is chosen to launch the project in the hope that through this project, women painters will start building their own network, to help one another, and to collaborate for the sake of the progress of the women in arts.
Female painters, especially in Bali, are still struggling to be acknowledged within the painters’ network – an arena that is still male dominated. Painting, for many women is a way to nurture their talent, to obtain additional income (i.e. for food, children school fees), and for some, to cope with life struggles. Therefore, “She Paints Her Sky’ is made as an empowerment through social and psychological supports by the means of art.
The painting exhibition, which will be held for one (1) month, starting 22 December 2015 to 21 January 2016, is the starting point of a series of activities from “She Paints The Sky” project. Next, it is expected that the activities will reach to women in other areas having similar goal. “She Paints Her Sky” is from women to women. Having realized that women especially encounter a number of obstacles in life by being women and thus these painters also wish to share with women who are in need; they are dedicating 35% of their sales profit to help supporting Krishnalila Foundation’s women empowerment activities.
Their paintings can be purchased from Krishnalila Foundation’s online shop. The following activities are arts program for school children, public, to develop their talent and interest and character building, as well as for autistic children considering art is one of the best therapies for these children. (JA).