In May 2006, printmaking workshops were offered to women of Pakistani origin living in Cardiff through a pilot project sponsored by Artes Mundi in partnership with AWEMA.
The fifteen Muslim women participated in learning the collagraph printmaking technique in a workshop environment led by artists Sameera Khan and Sarah as part of the outreach programme.
The individual collagraph blocks made at the workshop were printed up as a small edition onto one large sheet of handmade paper, at the very limits of our largest press at SPW’s studio. The resulting print was spectacular, not only for its range of imagery but also for the texture and colour. The professional quality of the prints led to the work being exhibited in the National Museum Cardiff and in the Festival of Muslim Cultures Print Project exhibition at the Taliesin in Swansea in July 2006.
The artwork was also included in the tri-lingual (Welsh, English and Urdu) publication that accompanied the Contemporary Welsh Printmakers exhibition in Pakistan in a special section titled Multiculturism through Art. This section also featured contributions by collaborating partners including Liberty Paterson from Artes Mundi.
“Artists Sameera Khan and Sarah Hopkins led the workshops, teaching the women the technique of collagraph printmaking. It was impressive to witness the gentle way Sameera and Sarah encouraged the women to explore their own creativity and culture, developing new skills, and increasing their knowledge of contemporary visual art.
The results were spectacular. It was difficult to believe that the women had absolutely no previous artistic experience. The professional quality of the prints led to the work being exhibited in the National Museum Cardiff.
One of the women participating commented that the workshop had enabled her to “express ideas of who I really am”. Clearly the workshop had helped the women to create their own identities, find new places from which to speak whilst discovering a sense of pride in the value they bring to their communities.”
Liberty Paterson, Artes Mundi
About Artes Mundi
Artes Mundi celebrates diversity and the global language of visual art. As its Latin name suggests, Artes Mundi (‘Arts of the World’) has been initiated to encourage international exchange between diverse cultures. It provides a framework of activity including a biennial international exhibition, public events and education and outreach programmes.
The catalogue can be viewed in our Publications and Catalogues Archive.
The Swansea Workshops
As a direct result of the success of the pilot workshop, Heather Stevens and the other Trustees of Artes Mundi supported an extension of the project. In collaboration with AWEMA we were able to offer a series of workshops in Swansea and bring artist Aleem Dad Khan from Pakistan to work on the project in November 2006. The Muslim women who had taken part in the original workshop also participated in the programme in Swansea.
Workshops between October and December 2006 were organised where participants were introduced to other printmaking techniques including screenprinting, woodcut and mono-printing. For this part of the programme, both younger and older participants were drawn from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They included individuals from Malaysia, China, Zimbabwe, East Africa, Wales, England, Somalia, The Philipines, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
This project took place in 2006 and was made possible through funding from AWEMA and Artes Mundi.