Discussion panel hosted by Nasty Women UK in aid of End Violence Against Women.

In this powerful panel discussion, our speakers will share the negative and/or traumatic experience that inspired them into activism. From FGM, domestic violence and housing issues, panellists will talk about how an experience does not need to define us in a negative way, but rather how we can use these to empower and help others, while helping ourselves. Activism does not need to be noisy, it does not need to be about riots and protests, it can be as simple as sharing your story and educating others.

There will be a short poetry reading by artist Amanda Holiday at the start of this panel.

Chair: Kat Lister, a journalist based in London but has written widely about women’s issues across the globe for publications including Vice, The Pool, The Daily Telegraph, Marie Claire and Feminist Times, where she was contributing editor. https://katlister.contently.com/ @Madame_George

Panelists:

Fatoumata Jatta, FGM survivor and who has provided FGM training to trainee clinical psychologists and various NHS mental health services including psychologists at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Her next training will be to the Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists in the NHS. Read here for more.

Ava Vidal, Comedian who after surviving an abusive relationship in the Caribbean founded Empowering Women Through Comedy. The project will run comedy workshops for women in the Caribbean to combat sexism and disadvantage. Read here The Huffington Post article on her project, Click here to donate http://bit.ly/2fUJT8F

Asifa Lahore, British Pakistani Asifa was the UK’s First Out Muslim Drag Queen. Now a trans woman she is vocal about LGBTQ issues across cultures. Asifa rose to prominence in the Channel 4 documentary Muslim Drag Queens. Read Attitude coverage here. @AsifaLahore

Romy Wakil, a Mental Health Counsellor who has worked with female survivors of abuse and domestic violence, counselled asylum seekers and survivors of sex trafficking. Currently working with individuals with eating disorders and enduring mental health needs. Romy has also conducted research on the impact of intersectional discrimination with minority ethnic youth.

Cat Phillips, political, activist artist and half of KennardPhillips, a collaboration behind some the most famous pieces of UK political art in recent history: the image of Tony Blair taking a selfie while the Iraqi oil fields burn, a sightless Theresa May and Trump exhaling the shreds of US flag. In 2002 motivated by the Iraq war Cat turned her work to confront power and war across the globe and inspire critical thinking leading to social and political change.

Martina Mullaney, Irish artist and PhD Candidate at University of Reading, looking at the missing mother from public, social, and academic contexts. After the birth of her daughter she initiated the project Enemies of Good Art in 2009, a multi-disciplinary project which seeks to investigate the possibilities of combining art practice and family commitments.

Poem

Amanda Holiday considers herself an ‘accidental poet’ having been an artist and then filmmaker for much of her life. She studied Fine Art at Wimbledon and during the 1980s exhibited in landmark black art shows across the UK before moving into film – directing experimental shorts for the Arts Council, BFI and Channel 4. See more.

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