'Truth is Beauty' wins in The Big Draw Festival Awards, 2019!!!
The Big Draw Festival Awards 2019:
We are pleased to announce Claire Collison as the winner, in the category of Arts Clubs and Societies, for her life drawing and modelling performance, ‘Truth is Beauty’.
Claire's events explored issues around the representation of breasts and breast cancer in a safe and supportive space. For her performance, writer, artist and breast cancer survivor Claire wove autobiographical storytelling and her own poetry whilst posing, hoping to open conversations, increase the visibility of an unreconstructed mastectomy, and engender a greater acceptance of difference 💗
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“Way back in March, I had to cancel what was meant to be the grand finale of this epic project. Anna, kindred spirit of @bbookproject was hosting what would have been a lovely celebration and a proper send off, but with hours to spare we cancelled, and rightly so.
But it meant we didn't get to celebrate, or properly draw a line under, or thank all the people who made it happen. So this prize from The Big Draw is lovely! Thanks so much, Sandra, Matilda and Kate - you have each been so supportive and encouraging, right from the start.
Thanks to @metalcultureuk who gave me a hat trick of residencies over two years and helped me shape the project and get it funded by Arts Council England. Special thanks to Jenny Porter @metalliverpool and Ruth Campbell @metalpeterborough for giving me so much time and energy.
Thanks, Althea @womensartwatcher at The Women's Art Library who has been championing my work for a very long time. Thanks Esther Bunting @spiritedbodies for the space right at the start to explore what it's like to be seen as a single-breasted woman, to think about what would happen if I TALKED while people drew me, and you made the space safe for others to talk and if they wanted, to be seen. Thank you Soph @iamhuman_design for your above and beyond design and support, for making the website so all this work could be archived, and then for the flyposters.
Biggest thanks to all the women who came and drew and listened and shared.”