LEBANON-FEMALE PRISONER ART Beirut art exhibition shows off former women prisoners work

Record ID: 150298

  • Title: LEBANON-FEMALE PRISONER ART Beirut art exhibition shows off former women prisoners work
  • Date: 4th June 2015
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (JUNE 2, 2015) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE LEADING TO LOCATION OF ART EXHIBITION, 'WOMEN RISING: FROM PRISONERS TO ARTISANS' SIGN READING (English): 'SARAH'S BAG' VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ATTENDING THE EXHIBITION ATTENDEES LOOKING AT EXHIBITED ARTWORKS ON THE WALL CANVAS ARTWORKS HANGING ON THE WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FOUNDER OF SARAH'S BAG, SARAH BEYDOUN, SAYING: "Sarah
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA35I9CPQJ9T63760FNM22J51XP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: In the Lebanese capital of Beirut, a handmade bags and accessories label founded by Lebanese designer and creative director Sarah Beydoun, helps current female prisoners feel productive and creative.
    Beydoun's initiative also enables former female prisoners to generate an income also helping to reintegrate them back into society.
    Sarah's Bag, founded in 2000, works with prisoners in Lebanon's Baabda women's prison during their sentences and also after their release. For Beirut Design Week 2015, the label is showcasing in the hall next to its atelier in Gemmayze, handmade artworks by current and former female prisoners.
    The exhibition, entitled 'Women Rising: From Prisoners To Artisans', opened on Tuesday (June 2) and takes it's audience through the artist's world, fears, frustrations, desires and hopes; prisoners who have been working with Sarah's Bag since it's launch.
    "Sarah's Bag has been working for 15 years with marginalised women prisoners and with those who have left prison, all with the help of the Dar Al Amal association," explained Byedoun at the opening of the exhibition.
    "This year, in Beirut Design Week, we wanted to go back to our cause which is the empowerment of women in prison and giving them a chance to work. We are showing how these girls are expressing themselves, their ambitions, dreams, tragedies and path through artwork panels they have done. Proceeds of the big artworks go to the girl who worked on them, and every girl has already decided what to do with the money she will get," she continued.
    According to Beydoun, for some former prisoners, Sarah's Bag is their only source of income.
    Beydoun also added that some former prisoners were willing to use the money they'd earned to pay for legal expenses in order to re-open their cases.
    On exhibit is a piece called the 'Virgin Mary'; 65cm x 70cm of embroidered canvas, stitched by current prisoner Nibal who hopes to raise funds and hire an advocate to re-open her case.
    Nibal has already spent six years in prison for a crime that she says usually sees someone sentenced to four years. The description by her embroidery says: 'Nibal was arrested for covering up a murder committed by her husband'.
    Another piece of embroidery hanging at the exhibition is by another current prisoner, Abir. The piece is an illustration of the human organ, the heart, surrounded by strokes, each stroke symbolises a day. During her time in prison, Abir fell in love with the cousin of a fellow prisoner who would visit every Tuesday. Abir's embroidery is in dedication to this experience of love and the passing of time through that emotion.
    And while women like Nibal, Abir and others worked on their own individual artworks, other smaller ones were a collaboration between many female prisoners and former prisoners. The proceeds of the collaborative pieces will go to the Dar Al Amal (Arabic for House Of Hope) association, the goal being to improve prison conditions.
    "Proceeds collected will go towards buying very essential equipment for the female prisoners, because - as I was telling someone else just now - imagine that there are 90 prisoners in a few rooms, fiver rooms, in difficult circumstances -- there is a constant use of washing machines, dryers, the AC, the microwave, the fridges! It's not like in houses - you are constantly in need of renewing things," said the director of the NGO, Hoda Hamawieh Kara.
    Dar Al Amal works with women in prison.
    A former prisoner, who did not want to be identified, spoke of her experience and how Sarah's Bag has helped her.
    "I spent a year in prison. I used to go out with a guy, he wanted to travel and therefore had to take a loan from someone, I signed the bond. He stopped paying the debt and I was arrested because I did not have the right amount of money. I spent one year in prison and it was so hard at the beginning. It was a whole new life in which I went from a big world to a small one that itself is big. You find drugs, criminals and other strange things, it is a big world in a small room," she said.
    Thirteen years after her release from prison, the former prisoner said securing a job at Sarah's Bag helped her face the outside world and overcome the usual stigma that comes with being an ex-prisoner.
    "When I started working with Sarah, I moved to a world that contained art and colours within the prison, it gives you some kind of hope and freedom. Whenever Sarah would come to visit in prison, I would feel like freedom came with her. I spent all my time working with Sarah and yes it's true, I was in a small world that did not belong to me but it felt like there was a world filled with art and hope; there was hope waiting for me outside," the woman said.
    Many people attending the exhibition were impressed with what they saw.
    "I am so impressed by the artworks the prisoners have done. You feel and live the story of each artwork when you look at it. Every artwork has behind it a story, and the life of a female prisoner who expressed herself in a beautiful way. It is really something great and I would love to take home with me each artwork exhibited here," one Lebanese citizen, Rana, said.
    Another visitor, Lebanese copywriter Fadi Mansour, considered the exhibition to be of great value and beauty.
    "(Sarah's Bag) is letting female prisoners, who are vulnerable twice for being women and for being prisoners, have a way of expressing themselves and their stories, a way to make money and be an active member in society. This is honestly something really beautiful, even more than beautiful, it is something very valuable," he said.
    The exhibition ends on Friday, June 5. The artworks, produced in a limited edition of five, are on sale for prices ranging from 100 U.S dollars for the smaller ones to 1500 U.S dollars for a hand embroidered canvas illustrating The Wish List of current prisoners.
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