“Portraits of Yazidi, Rohingya, and Nigerian Women” by Hannah Rose Thomas is a profound tribute to highlight the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities around the world, whose sufferings remain largely unseen, unknown and unheard of. Hannah showcases their horrifying stories in her poignant artwork for the whole world to see. Her paintings serve to alleviate the soul-scarring trauma of the most vulnerable, marginalised people worldwide by lifting them above their sufferings. In her paintings, Hannah vividly captures the stoic courage, true nobility, serene dignity, remarkable resilience and extraordinary compassion of these women who have suffered so heartbreakingly.

A remarkable painter of exceptional artistic skills, Hannah is a true storyteller extraordinaire. “Tears of Gold” simultaneously testifies to the excruciating sufferings of fellow beings while restoring the sufferer’s humanity and self-esteem. A pervading sense of peace, a quiet, serene strength is seen in Hannah’s portraits. Her golden halos reflects the individual acts of resurrection. The portraits of the survivors represent a new beginning again on an altered scale.

The self-portraits enables victims of atrocities to process traumatic memories to heal and reclaim their own voices and inherent dignity. Hannah taught the women how to paint their self-portraits to share their stories with the world. Some women painted themselves with tears of gold, inspiring the title of this one-of-a-kind, life-transforming book, for here are the self-effacing faces and extremely traumatic stories of extraordinary women of great self-worth, who take the world by storm because of their sacrifices.

4.5 Stars

Hannah Rose Thomas is a British artist who has used her skills as an artist to share the lives of women, those who have survived violence by others and who live in ’forgotten corners of the world.’

Sharing her skills with these women, she has helped them to paint their own portraits as they see themselves, envisioning a new life beyond their pain, the pain that they’ve held inside. Women who are from three different continents, as well as three different religions. All have been persecuted - or worse - for their beliefs, their ethnicity, or because they are women.

Their stories of life before are heartbreaking, but the gift that Hannah Rose Thomas gave them was the gift of seeing themselves, their true selves that made it through so much, and can now see that there is still another, better kind of life in front of them.


Pub Date: 06 Feb 2024

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Plough Publishing, Plough Publishing House

Hannah Rose Thomas is an accomplished artist and a human rights activist. She traveled to refugee camps and taught women to paint themselves as she heard their stories.

These were Yazidi, Rohingya, and Nigerian women who had suffered the worst that the world could offer. Kidnapped from their homes, raped, sold, lost husbands, children and entire families. Their pain cannot be measured. Their stories are filled with grief and horror. Hannah used art to give them some healing as they painted themselves, many times with tears of gold or red.
The last chapter features Afghan, Ukrainian, Uyghur, and Palestinian women.

Hannah's portraits of them were painted as if icons and in that style. They are beautiful and expressive.

No one can view this book and not be touched. Many questions came to my mind. Why does the world ignore these situations, which are still going on? Why are false narratives accepted, especially ones we have heard regarding the Rohingya and Nigerian women and the horror and genocide taking place there as well as among the Uyghur in China? Those horrors have not ended. Are these women (and men) expendable? While the U.N. works hard to push abortion and gay issues as priorities, these people have serious issues and needs and most people hear nothing about them. We have become numb to the suffering of our sisters.

Hannah has allowed this group of women to open up their pain and suffering through art and allowed them to have some healing through it. I would urge everyone to purchase this book when it is published. All of the publishers profits will go to charities. This will aid many people and the book will aid everyone who reads it and sees the beauty of these women. This book will open up your heart.

I thank Plough Publishing and NetGalley for this opportunity to read this book prior to publishing.

Women are so rarely the instigators of war, and so often the ones who suffer the consequences. In "Tears of Gold", Thomas pairs portraits of women who have lived through—and still bear physical and/or emotional scars of—war with their own words and, sometimes, self-portraits.

'"I want the whole world to know that I have pain," Aisha says. "I have gone through a lot, and many other women in my village are going through a lot."' (69*)

Thomas sticks to simple themes here: though she draws on techniques and traditions from religious art in particular, the women in her portraits are always the focus, with their faces rendered in the most precise detail of any part of the painting. There are portraits of Yazidi, Rohingya, and Nigerian women, along with a few portraits from other conflicts (Afghan, Ukrainian, Uyghur, and Palestinian women). I love Thomas's choice to maintain a particular style for each region—they're beautiful portraits individually, but grouped together (pages 76–77) you can really see the care individuality she's given each piece.

I read the text mostly on my e-reader but viewed the images on my computer, and I would strongly recommend reading this in a form that allows you to see the pictures in full color—I imagine that, in person, with the gold leaf and the richness of the lapis lazuli at its full power, these are even more striking.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*I read an ARC, and quotes may not be final.

Sometimes I feel like words like powerful are overused but I really can't think if a better way to describe this book. Solemn and powerful

4.5 "respectful, healing and consciousness raising" stars.

Thanks to Netgalley, the artist/author, the participants and Plough Publishing, This will be released Feb 2024. I am providing an honest review.

Ms. Thomas has collated her artistic work in this small volume. This is a series of portraits of that have been displayed in Europe and New York. The portraits are of women that have been displaced and traumatized. There are a group of Yazidi (from Iraq), Rohingya (from Myanmar) and Nigeria. They are victimized due to faith, gender and politics. Many of these women have been sold as sex slaves, gang raped and and lost husbands and children due to crimes against humanity.

Ms. Thomas has worked on various international art projects and assisted in promoting healing for groups of women and children. She comes across as humble, respectful and intelligent. The academic writing is both moving and important and the sharing of stories is poignant and consciousness raising.

The portraits incorporate byzantine iconographic techniques and are beautiful in color and composition. She also included the women's own self portraits.

She writes:
"Often tears would fall while I was painting, contemplating all that these women had endured and their ongoing suffering. The pain at times felt overwhelming, but the process of painting their portraits was a form of prayer, as it is in incon0graphy. The paintings are in many ways visual psalms: outpourings of lament for the broken realities of the world around us."

A beautiful work of love, Tears of Gold is a one of a kind work created by British artist and human rights activist Hannah Rose Thomas.

Rose Thomas spent time in various refugee camps teaching art and self portraiture to women. She traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan, Bangladeshi refugee camps, as well as Northern Nigeria. This work of art includes her own paintings as well as portraits created by the women. Interspersed between the portraits are stories - stories of hope, as the women have overcome great trauma.
- Yazidi women who escaped ISIS, Rohingya women who fled Myanmar, and Nigerian women who survived Boko Haram. All have encountered violence before they escaped and most have had to deal with multiple obstacles as they try to assimilate into a culture that may not want to receive them.

I love this book and will gift it to many of my human rights warrior friends. Support this project! Read this Book!
#Ploughpublishing #Tearsofgold #HannahRoseThomas

The portraits are beautiful but the book is mostly writing. There are forwards and a lot of information from the author. Where there should be stories written they ar woefully short. The stories from the actual victims in the portraits don't have much detail and the artist talks more about her experience.

Artist and humanitarian Hannah Rose Gold provides art therapy for those at refugee camps. This book contains women’s stories — harrowing but hopeful — as well as the women’s self-portraits and paintings of them by Gold. She has deliberately styled them to look like madonnas, complete with the gold leaf. I devoured this powerful book in less than two hours. In addition to the Yazidi (killed and enslaved by ISIS), the Rohingya (suffering genocide in Myanmar) and the Nigerian women (kidnapped and forced into marriage by the Boko Haram), Gold includes a few portraits and stories by female former judges from Afghanistan, Uyghurs from China, Palestinian refugees in Gaza and Ukrainian women fleeing violence. Painful and empowering at the same time.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Plough Publishing House in exchange for an honest review.