Our Storytelling Sisters’ work shines in major global exhibition

We’re always keen to showcase the skills of the women and girls who take part in our projects – not least the incredible talents of our Storytelling Sisters.

Earlier this year, their work was chosen especially for a high-profile Women of the World exhibition in partnership with Google Arts & Culture, called The Hope Brigade. The online exhibition featured 100 trailblazing women from 10 cities and countries around the world, including our Storytelling Sisters in Kurdistan, but also as far afield as Brisbane in Australia.

 The exhibition brought together inspiring stories of global feminism and women’s movements under a series of central themes, designed to keep the issue of gender equality at the forefront of debate and discussion.

Our Storytelling Sisters – who have become professionally trained in documenting the everyday through the medium of photo journalism – shared some powerful imagery and stories as part of the exhibition, which each reflected daily life within refugee camps. One of them was this shot of a young woman called Malaka, which was taken by Storytelling Sister Ghazal.

Malaka

Malaka herself had the chance to join our Baking Sisters project, enabling her to make cakes to help provide an income for herself and family. “The Lotus Flower provided funds to kickstart the Baking Sisters business, a bakery near the entrance of Rwanga camp, where I live," she said. "I am able to provide for my daughter. I buy whatever she needs.”

Ghazal also captured this image of Nadifa, who has been teaching boxing skills at our women’s centre. She said: "Even when women have no weapons with them, they can save themselves from the bad guys. Many of my students said that they were getting better mentally after being trained.”

Nadifa

Another of the chosen photos features Layla, who herself is one of the Storytelling Sisters. “I feel like this is a big part of my identity, and I am able to express myself through photos and words,” she said. “I took this picture of my father sometime last year, and he has recently passed away. I’m grieving a lot. He was a really important part of me, so this picture is one of my most prized possessions.”

Layla

Layla also took this image of Hiba, who has been studying hard to reach her goals – and finished top of her class with an average score of 99.88. "My dream is to study medicine, and hopefully I will treat sick people and the poor and people in need,” she said.

Hiba

This is just a small selection of images from the exhibition, so please do check out more pictures and the full stories here…