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Screening and Panel Discussion: Serendipity (2019)
Check the event replay here.
Join us for this moving and inspirational screening and panel discussion
About this Event
Serendipity, directed by French artist, Prune Nourry is about random coincidences that started to coalesce in her art and life, as she battled breast cancer. The film goes beyond an artist portrait to a universal story of femininity and aims to give hope to the many women going through the same journey.
Serendipity opens with medical images, as Prune documents her treatment as an active patient in the process of healing. Diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 31, Prune turns her medical odyssey into an epic artistic adventure as she discovers new meaning in her body of work and its curious relationship to her illness.
“I believe in happy chances and accidents. As a young artist, I have spent my working life exploring issues around the human body – creating projects concerning genetics, gender selection, imbalance, fertility and the very mystery of life. I believe in chance and intuition to bring me from one project to the next. I came to realize that filming was not only creative, it was a way for me to be proactive of my own illness – by saying “action” to myself while going through the treatments. I also made it because I hope it can inspire women going through the same journey to be creative and proactive with their illness.” – Prune Nourry
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The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with 3 projects that can talk on the therapeutic nature of art and how the film relates to the work they are doing people living with traumas:
Lensational, Bonnie Chiu, Founder & CEO
SepJordan, Roberta Ventura, Founder
A Space Between, Tianna Dagher & Emily Halban, Co-Founders
The panel will be moderated by Antonella Notari Vischer, founding Executive Committee member of Giving Women and former Executive Director of Womanity Foundation.
=============================================
PLEASE NOTE: Eventbrite registrants will receive login details for Zoom and the StorySpaces Platform closer to the day.
All donations made will go directly to support the work of Giving Women (suggested donation: CHF10)
=============================================
BIOS
Antonella Notari Vischer
In 2018, Antonella radically changed her work – and her life – by moving to central Tuscany to manage the organic farm and guesthouse she and her husband restored and rehabilitated over the past few years. This after 7 ½ years as head of the Womanity Foundation, co-creating and directing support to innovative programs to advance women and girls’ empowerment and their rights.
Previously, she developed and implemented the first corporate communication strategy and action plan for BlueOrchard, a leading commercial microfinance investment management company. Before that, she managed sizeable multi-cultural teams in complex emergencies delivering aid and providing protection in armed conflicts in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Balkans for over ten years for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). She also led the ICRC’s public communication and media relations for over six years as chief spokesperson in charge of a wide-spread network of communicators based in the Geneva HQ and in nearly 80 countries world-wide. She is Swiss Italian, married to a wonderful man and living mostly in Italy and partly in Geneva.
Bonnie Chiu
Hong Kong-born Bonnie Chiu is the Founder and CEO of award-winning social enterprise Lensational, which equips marginalised women with photography training and digital skills. Since launching in 2013, the organisation – which has expanded to a team of 120 volunteers – has taught photography to 1,000 women across 23 countries, and established partnerships with corporates such as Getty Images, Standard Chartered Bank, and Colgate. Recognised as a champion for gender equality and a Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur, she also serves as a Forbes Senior Contributor.
Roberta Ventura
Roberta Ventura left her twenty-year career in Investment Banking and Asset Management in 2016, to run the Social Enterprise she founded, SEP Jordan, on a full-time basis. SEP Jordan is a fashion and lifestyle brand, which blends Italian style with the finest Middle-Eastern craftsmanship, with the aim of bringing back dignity and pride to refugee camps. Roberta is a strong believer and advocate of refugees’ right to employment, education and empowerment – the key instruments to reach confidence, determination and self-sufficiency.
Tianna Dagher
Following a Masters degree in Cultural & Creative Industries from King’s College London, Tianna worked for the BFI and Sony Pictures Television before segueing into travel. In 2008, she joined the Marketing team of travel startup, Black Tomato. But she was soon bit by the entrepreneurial bug and launched her own travel company, IAVRA, in 2010. Tianna was Marketing Director for the B2B villa rental platform until it was acquired in 2014. During this period she was diagnosed with stage 3 Breast Cancer. Nine years on and Tianna decided to share her health journey and experience online @KipUphealth. With years of experience navigating cancer with children, surrogacy, BRCA, forced menopause etc she wanted to inspire hope by sharing openly and honestly with those struggling. In February of 2019 Tianna’s cancer returned, this time in her bones. As before she has turned to the healing power of Art as a therapeutic tool in her own treatment and recovery and she remains committed to sharing the ups, the downs and all that she learns along the way.
Emily Halban
After graduating from Oxford University, Emily moved to London to follow a diploma in Asian Art at the British Museum. From here, she went on to develop an Art History after-school art programme for children aged 3-11. During this time, Emily wrote her first book, published by Random House (now Penguin) in 2007, a memoir of her battles with – and ultimate recovery from – anorexia. In 2008, Emily was invited to speak about her writing at the International Therapeutic Patient Education Congress [Budapest], to elaborate the healing role of the arts in the management of chronic illness. This experience was formative in deepening her understanding of patient-centred healthcare. She moved to Hong Kong for a year where she continued writing, before returning to London to work in a primary school art department. After a pause dedicated to raising her three children, the development of A Space Between marked the culmination of a passionate concern for mental health and holistic well-being coupled with a fervent belief in – and first hand experience of – the intrinsic therapeutic values of art in all forms, for all ages.
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Screening and Panel Discussion: Serendipity (2019)
Check the event replay here.
Join us for this moving and inspirational screening and panel discussion
About this Event
Serendipity, directed by French artist, Prune Nourry is about random coincidences that started to coalesce in her art and life, as she battled breast cancer. The film goes beyond an artist portrait to a universal story of femininity and aims to give hope to the many women going through the same journey.
Serendipity opens with medical images, as Prune documents her treatment as an active patient in the process of healing. Diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 31, Prune turns her medical odyssey into an epic artistic adventure as she discovers new meaning in her body of work and its curious relationship to her illness.
“I believe in happy chances and accidents. As a young artist, I have spent my working life exploring issues around the human body – creating projects concerning genetics, gender selection, imbalance, fertility and the very mystery of life. I believe in chance and intuition to bring me from one project to the next. I came to realize that filming was not only creative, it was a way for me to be proactive of my own illness – by saying “action” to myself while going through the treatments. I also made it because I hope it can inspire women going through the same journey to be creative and proactive with their illness.” – Prune Nourry
=============================================
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with 3 projects that can talk on the therapeutic nature of art and how the film relates to the work they are doing people living with traumas:
Lensational, Bonnie Chiu, Founder & CEO
SepJordan, Roberta Ventura, Founder
A Space Between, Tianna Dagher & Emily Halban, Co-Founders
The panel will be moderated by Antonella Notari Vischer, founding Executive Committee member of Giving Women and former Executive Director of Womanity Foundation.
=============================================
PLEASE NOTE: Eventbrite registrants will receive login details for Zoom and the StorySpaces Platform closer to the day.
All donations made will go directly to support the work of Giving Women (suggested donation: CHF10)
=============================================
BIOS
Antonella Notari Vischer
In 2018, Antonella radically changed her work – and her life – by moving to central Tuscany to manage the organic farm and guesthouse she and her husband restored and rehabilitated over the past few years. This after 7 ½ years as head of the Womanity Foundation, co-creating and directing support to innovative programs to advance women and girls’ empowerment and their rights.
Previously, she developed and implemented the first corporate communication strategy and action plan for BlueOrchard, a leading commercial microfinance investment management company. Before that, she managed sizeable multi-cultural teams in complex emergencies delivering aid and providing protection in armed conflicts in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Balkans for over ten years for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). She also led the ICRC’s public communication and media relations for over six years as chief spokesperson in charge of a wide-spread network of communicators based in the Geneva HQ and in nearly 80 countries world-wide. She is Swiss Italian, married to a wonderful man and living mostly in Italy and partly in Geneva.
Bonnie Chiu
Hong Kong-born Bonnie Chiu is the Founder and CEO of award-winning social enterprise Lensational, which equips marginalised women with photography training and digital skills. Since launching in 2013, the organisation – which has expanded to a team of 120 volunteers – has taught photography to 1,000 women across 23 countries, and established partnerships with corporates such as Getty Images, Standard Chartered Bank, and Colgate. Recognised as a champion for gender equality and a Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur, she also serves as a Forbes Senior Contributor.
Roberta Ventura
Roberta Ventura left her twenty-year career in Investment Banking and Asset Management in 2016, to run the Social Enterprise she founded, SEP Jordan, on a full-time basis. SEP Jordan is a fashion and lifestyle brand, which blends Italian style with the finest Middle-Eastern craftsmanship, with the aim of bringing back dignity and pride to refugee camps. Roberta is a strong believer and advocate of refugees’ right to employment, education and empowerment – the key instruments to reach confidence, determination and self-sufficiency.
Tianna Dagher
Following a Masters degree in Cultural & Creative Industries from King’s College London, Tianna worked for the BFI and Sony Pictures Television before segueing into travel. In 2008, she joined the Marketing team of travel startup, Black Tomato. But she was soon bit by the entrepreneurial bug and launched her own travel company, IAVRA, in 2010. Tianna was Marketing Director for the B2B villa rental platform until it was acquired in 2014. During this period she was diagnosed with stage 3 Breast Cancer. Nine years on and Tianna decided to share her health journey and experience online @KipUphealth. With years of experience navigating cancer with children, surrogacy, BRCA, forced menopause etc she wanted to inspire hope by sharing openly and honestly with those struggling. In February of 2019 Tianna’s cancer returned, this time in her bones. As before she has turned to the healing power of Art as a therapeutic tool in her own treatment and recovery and she remains committed to sharing the ups, the downs and all that she learns along the way.
Emily Halban
After graduating from Oxford University, Emily moved to London to follow a diploma in Asian Art at the British Museum. From here, she went on to develop an Art History after-school art programme for children aged 3-11. During this time, Emily wrote her first book, published by Random House (now Penguin) in 2007, a memoir of her battles with – and ultimate recovery from – anorexia. In 2008, Emily was invited to speak about her writing at the International Therapeutic Patient Education Congress [Budapest], to elaborate the healing role of the arts in the management of chronic illness. This experience was formative in deepening her understanding of patient-centred healthcare. She moved to Hong Kong for a year where she continued writing, before returning to London to work in a primary school art department. After a pause dedicated to raising her three children, the development of A Space Between marked the culmination of a passionate concern for mental health and holistic well-being coupled with a fervent belief in – and first hand experience of – the intrinsic therapeutic values of art in all forms, for all ages.