I thought about it a lot before choosing this object. A lot of the women we work with have the posture of this woman. Emotions I could connect with. I could relate to what I could see in her that women feel when they are exhausted and have had enough. A woman who has come to a point where she has sat down and said enough.

​Our women have a lot to say and it relates...diverse women who have been on different journeys, had different experiences. I have such admiration for them, given what they have been through that people just don't know. 

In terms of women being represented by museums at the forefront of their work, I think it is important that women refugees and those seeking asylum are involved at the forefront of projects related to their journeys and experiences around issues such as political persecution, trafficking, rape and sexual exploitation. Positioning women at the forefront of these projects helps to ensure representation and ownership of their work.'

​Nadia

This painting was one of two objects chosen for a Collections chat between staff, volunteers and members of Women's Voices, a not-for-profit organisation supporting vulnerable women from diverse backgrounds. 

Jean Hippolyte Marchand, The Lady in Brown, 1905-1922, oil on canvas