Women Artists in Zones of Conflict
#WAZC Imagination as an Act of Resistance
Women Artists in Zones of Conflict #WAZC is an evolving international collection of commissioned artworks foregrounding the voices, visions, and lived experiences of women artists creating amid war, displacement, environmental devastation, and political instability.
Curated by Dr May East, Trustee of Artist Project Earth (APE UK), the collection will culminate in a public exhibition bringing together works from courageous artists from Ukraine, Sudan, Iran (Ahwaz), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Syria and Venezuela – regions profoundly shaped by conflict yet sustained by their imagination as an act of creative resistance.
WAZC is not a documentation of trauma alone. It is a space of witnessing, transformation, and re-imagining. Through painting, mixed media, symbolism, and embodied narratives, these artists reclaim authorship over their stories, asserting imagination as a means of survival, healing, and political expression.
At its core, Women Artists in Zones of Conflict reveals the enduring capacity of women to transform suffering into vision, displacement into memory, and loss into evolving forms of belonging. Their works articulate the intimate relationship between land and body, exile and refuge, destruction and regeneration positioning art as a powerful means to interpret, contest and rewrite history.
Participating Artists & Commissioned Works
Tetiana Hurn (Ukraine)
Spirit of the Forest (Commissioned by APE, 2022)
Amna Elhassan (Sudan)
Oasis (Commissioned by APE, 2023)
Sarah Ndele (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Oracle Woman (Commissioned by APE, 2024)
Amaal Saeed (Ahwaz, Iran)
Al-Atabah – The Threshold: Crossing from Darkness to Insight
(Commissioned by APE, 2025)
Khin Thethtar Lattt (Myanmar)
When We Lost Our Ghost (Commissioned by APE, 2025)
Rala Tarabishi (Syria)
Peace – Revival – Reconciliation (Commissioned by APE, 2025)
A Living Collection
Rather than a single moment in time, WAZC is a growing body of work. Each commission is a deliberate act of listening, witnessing, and collaboration. As the collection expands, Women Artists in Zones of Conflict will evolve into a curated exhibition, accompanied by public conversations. Together, these elements amplify women’s creative leadership in times of crisis and invite audiences to engage with art as a catalyst for empathy, action, and transformation.
Follow the journey. Support the artists.
Reimagine the world through their eyes.
#WAZC | Artist Project Earth (APE UK)
