2025: Susan

‘Resilience in Bloom’. Acrylic on paper.

16 Days of Activism Art Project, 2025. Susan M Castle

The lotus flower, rising from the mud, and the idea of “gathering flowers in hell” remain sharp reminders of resilience. They symbolise the possibility of beauty and strength emerging from pain and adversity.

This perspective has guided me as a parent: “Look for the gift in adversity,” I would say. Time and again, I have witnessed how those who have endured family violence carry extraordinary gifts—kindness, creativity, determination, resourcefulness, intelligence, and a deep sense of community.

Resilience in Bloom is inspired by that hard journey—the capacity not only to survive but to retrieve something precious from suffering. The work honours the strength of women and children who transform their lived experiences into resilience, solidarity, and hope, echoing the 2025 call to end all forms of violence, including digital violence, and to create space for voices to rise above the mud and bloom.

‘Resilience in Bloom’