The program was built on a safe and supportive environment that allowed participants to experiment, discover, and share. Each day offered not only creative sessions but also a strong focus on group dynamics, bodywork, personal reflection, and opportunities for participants to facilitate their own workshops. Three such workshops were led by participants: a storytelling session focused on transformative life moments, a movement improvisation exploring touch and consent, and a body painting session as a tool for free self-expression. These activities helped deepen trust, unlock creativity, and open space for important conversations that naturally carried into the core group projects.
From the third day on, participants formed groups based on topics they felt drawn to: the nature of gender (femininity, masculinity, fluidity), gender, love and violence, gender norms, and gender and mental health. Over the following days, they worked on collaborative creations that culminated in a public exhibition on the final day. This showcase included both visual and performative pieces and offered many participants their first experience of presenting their art to an audience, a powerful and empowering milestone. Alongside the exhibition, a collective booklet was created as a visual and written record of the entire process, offering a shared outcome that can be brought back to each participant’s community.
The project once again demonstrated that art can be a powerful tool not just for communication but for transformation. It allows emotions that are difficult to articulate to find expression and creates space for collaboration and mutual understanding across diverse experiences. This second phase built on the foundations of the first with a greater sense of confidence and courage among participants to create, to explore, and to open up conversations that are still often shaped by stigma, fear, or misunderstanding in many parts of the world. The project continues to show that when art, trust, and humanity come together, a space is created where growth is not only possible, but inevitable.
