On Friday 6th March, the Healthwatch Cumberland team held a Wellbeing Drop In with an International Women’s Day theme. The session involved creating self-expressive collages inspired by Frida Kahlo’s expressive paintings. Frida used art to convey pain and emotional and physical struggles. Creating a collage is a way to connect with yourself and how you feel, and experience some release as you let things out onto the page.
Comms and Admin Coordinator Suzannah was excited to do a session inspired by Frida Kahlo:
“I love Frida’s work, so this was a really lovely opportunity to honour her passion and creative spirit. I think it can be really difficult to express painful emotions. Through art, these emotions can be released without having to put how you feel into words, which can be very difficult. I think Frida was definitely a pioneer of her time, not only as a woman making art in a world that favoured male artists, but as someone who chose to embrace her negative experiences and channel her pain into creativity.”
Engagement Manager Chloe enjoyed creating the opportunity for expression:
“We chose to do this session to make space for people to bring their whole self. Gathering anyone in a community is important and it’s always good to allow people to use their hands and get stuck in. Frida Kahlo is an excellent example of overcoming barriers and being able to see the benefit of interactions between people. It was a real privilege to see people express themselves.”
The session was held two days before International Women’s Day, an annual day of celebration of women’s rights and community which takes place on 8th March each year.
“The collage session was a good opportunity to raise awareness for women’s health and rights. It provided a good starting point to allow conversations around other topics, acting like an olive branch for discussions about women’s health.”
Our next Wellbeing Drop In will be held on Friday 10th April at Restore Carlisle. We will be making Spring themed origami for Stress Awareness Month.
“Holding a Wellbeing Drop In for Stress Awareness Month is a good opportunity to have an emotional check in. Stress really impacts our health and learning ways to combat this and do activities in a community is key. We all need to take time for ourselves and look at health ways to cope. Why not come along and try something different?”
You can join the Healthwatch Cumberland team for our free Spring themed Wellbeing Drop In on Friday 10th April, 10am-12pm at Restore Carlisle.