Womankind Hosts an Evening of Art, Music, and Collective Care for Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Womankind Hosts an Evening of Art, Music, and Collective Care for Sexual Assault Awareness Month
In recognition of April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Womankind welcomed community members, survivors, allies, staff, and volunteers to its Brooklyn Community Office in Sunset Park for an evening of art, reflection, music, and collective care. The one-night, in-person exhibition brought together creative works featured in Hear Our Voices, Womankind’s ongoing survivor-centered art initiative that began as a virtual exhibit during the pandemic in 2020.
For many attendees, the evening was an opportunity to experience years of survivor storytelling gathered in one shared physical space where art invited moments of quiet reflection, conversation, and connection. “From our founding, our work has been deeply rooted in the understanding that healing is not one dimensional,” said Yasmeen Hamza, Womankind’s CEO, during her opening remarks. “Through art, poetry, photography, and other creative mediums, survivors share their healing journey with us all in ways that words alone cannot.”
Originally launched virtually during a time of isolation and uncertainty, Hear Our Voices was created to foster connection through creativity. Over the years, the exhibit has evolved into a living archive of resilience and expression within the Womankind community. This spring’s in-person gathering revisited artwork collected not only during last October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month exhibit, but also pieces from previous years, allowing past and present voices to exist in conversation with one another.
“Reviewing the art collected over the years was a grounding experience and is a testament to how strong our voices can collectively be,” shared Jennifer Le, Womankind’s Manager of Community Education and Outreach (pictured above) who spearheaded this event. “The reframing of past and present art creates a future that is unwritten, but is ours to write as a community.”
Throughout the evening, guests moved through the exhibit while participating in interactive activity stations designed to encourage reflection and self-expression. Guests created dried flower bookmarks at the “Marking a New Chapter” station, wrote and decorated personal letters at “Letter to My Future Self,” explored painting and drawing at “Color Outside the Lines,” and received tattoos from Henna by Neha. The atmosphere was warm and communal, accompanied by shared food from local restaurants and conversations that unfolded organically throughout the event.
Womankind staff, Francine Jean shared, “There was one older adult attendee who I observed in the painting room and said, ‘I'm not an artist, but today I just felt like one.’ She painted maybe 2 or 3 smaller canvases in the children's room, and they were beautiful. The light-hearted smile and joy that accompanied her comment was a special moment for me.”
A special orchestra performance by the Ulysses Quartet added another layer of musical artistry to the evening. Presented in partnership with Schneider Concerts at the New School, the quartet—comprised of violinists Christina Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt, violist Cara Pogossian, and cellist Grace Ho—performed a program featuring works by female composers, including an original composition titled Soul. Before the performance, Christina described the piece as “a moment of meditation, or reflection, whatever you need it to be,” inviting listeners to sit with their own emotions and experiences as the music filled the community space.
The evening ultimately reflected the heart of Hear Our Voices: a space where survivors and communities can gather not only to witness stories of healing, but to participate in them together. Through art, music, conversation, and creativity, the event offered a reminder that healing is rarely linear — and that community can help make space for futures that are still being written.
