Art & Faith Conversations

Artist, Hannah Rose Thomas, began a journey of healing when she was asked to organize an art project for Syrian refugees in 2014. She went on to continue this humanitarian work of art and empathy and had the privilege to hear the stories of women in Northern Iraq and Nigeria who had survived incredible trauma and violence. She taught them to paint their own portraits which became a process of healing in restoring their own personhood, something they said was of their highest value. Many of the women painted themselves with tears of gold coming down their face and Hannah has since began compiling her portraits of the women into a book with that very title, Tears of Gold. She describes her work as giving a voice to the voiceless and uses the paintings as tools of advocacy to bring about change. Her work has been shown in Houses of Parliament, European Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Lambeth Palace, The Saatchi Gallery and Durham Cathedral.  Three of Hannah’s paintings of Yezidi women were chosen by HRH The Pri