​​Born in Glamorgan, Wales, Molly Parkin’s career has excelled in more areas than most people can even dream to achieved in one – be it painting, poetry, journalism, writing erotic novels, designing or editing, she’s done it all. Described by Clive Martin as a “great British eccentric”, Parkin has become famous not only for her success within her work, but also her flamboyant style and exciting lifestyle. In 2012 Parkin received a Civil List Pension from the Queen for service to the arts.
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After gaining a scholarship for Fine Art at Goldsmith’s, Parkin’s impressive career includes designing hats and bags for Biba, editing the Sunday Times fashion section – for which she won Fashion Editor of the Year in 1971, and publishing 10 comic-erotic novel, before focusing her time on painting again. mollyparkin.co.uk
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​Vanja Karas is a Belgrade-born, London based Artist, Curator, Designer and Creative Director. She began her creative career in theatre directing, and from there moved on to work in a range of other visual arts media including film, video, multimedia, graphic design and print. In recent years her work has been focused mainly on photography, site-specific installations, conceptual art and most recently textile design.

She has exhibited her work world-wide, including at the 56th Venice Biennale, Royal Academy of Arts, Somerset House, The Photographers’ Gallery, Royal College of Art, New Orleans Photo Alliance, China House, Malaysia, Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu and New Moment, Belgrade. Her work has been published in books and magazines and commissioned for a number of private, public, museum and corporate collections including: Swiss Re (the Gherkin), St Mary’s Hospital, Hotel du Vin, Malmaison Hotels and a number of De Vere Venues including 1 Westferry Circus.
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Karas is also the Founder and Creative Director of Magenta Grove Design Studio and the Founder and Curator of Photography Open Salon, which since its inception in 2011 exhibited over 200 photographers on two continents and published in three award winning books. vanjakaras.com

​Fiona Dealey studied Fashion at St. Martin’s School of Art, before running her own fashion company designing for various celebrities, such as the singer Sade, and selling to boutiques including Harvey Nichols and Matches. This lead to her career working as a Costume Designer in television where she worked with Jonathan Ross, before entering the world of advertising to design costumes for commercials. Her work has varied from designing period costumes to futuristic outfits, making hats for budgerigars, creating the letter costumes for Comedy Central and transforming the comedian Peter Kay into the glamorous diva Geraldine for ‘Britain’s got the Pop Factor’.

On the Little Paper Slipper Chapter II launch, Dealey commented “I was delighted to be invited by Marie-Louise Jones to decorate one of her charming paper slippers for her inspiring charity. My decorated shoe is intended to reflect that if you can finally find the courage and necessary support to break free from the insidious binding ties of an abusive, controlling relationship then you will indeed flourish and blossom”. fionadealey.com
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To find out more about the Little Paper Slipper Chapter II launch and how you can see the artists specially commissioned shoes, visit our events page here. 


Post by LIzzie Scourfield.
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​We are pleased to announce the Little Paper Slipper Chapter II Launch Party, taking place on the 9th June at Vout-O-Reneees. The event will feature an art auction of specially commissioned Little Paper Slipper shoes by nine amazing artists, who we will be taking a look at in this blog over the next couple of weeks. This week’s featured artists are:

Considered to be one of the Young British Artists (YBA), Gavin Turk is a British born artist who makes sculptures, drawings and assemblages, described by the Tate as investigating ‘what it means to be an artist’. His website argues that he has ‘pioneered many forms of contemporary British sculpture now taken for granted, including the painted bronze, the waxwork, the recycled art-historical icon and the use of rubbish in art’, commenting that his ‘ installations and sculptures deal with issues of authorship, authenticity and identity’.

Turk studied at the Royal College of Art in London from 1989 to 1991, but did not graduate due to his final show ‘Cave’, which consisted of a whitewashed studio space containing only a blue heritage plaque stating ‘Gavin Turk worked here 1989-91’.  His work has been widely exhibited, and includes ‘Pop’ (1993) – a waxwork of himself as Sid Vicious; ‘Bum’ (1998) – a life size waxwork of the artist as a tramp; ‘Bag’ (2000) – bronze sculptures of plastic rubbish bags; ‘Nomad’ (2002) – a bronze cast of a sleeping bag; and ‘Nail’ (2011) – a 12-metre bronze sculpture which stands at the shopping centre One New Change by St. Paul’s Cathedral.

In 2007, Turk and his partner Deborah Curtis established The House of Fairy Tales – a national children’s arts charity that aims to engage with young people of all ages from any socio economic or cultural background. www.gavinturk.com

Jess De Wahls was born in Berlin and relocated to London in 2004. Described as ‘the enfant terrible of British textile arts’, she aims to tackle subjects such as misogyny, objectification and bondage. In 2016 she curated a gallery exhibition called ‘Stopjectify’, which invites the audience to ‘reconsider the status quo and question how we can break the age-old cycles that perpetuate objectification as a ‘normal’ fixture of everyday life’.
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She has found her niche in ‘Retex Sculpture’ – a term she has coined to describe hand-sewn relief portraits from up-cycled clothing, which can be seen in her Big Swinging Ovaries project. She has exhibited works in USA, Paris and London including Tate Modern. www.jessdewahls.com

Marie-Louise Jones is a London based artist, and founder of the Little Paper Slipper charity. Her practice explores trauma, vulnerability, internal conflict and chaos, with previous work having dealt with female identity & female sexuality. Her sculptures, installations and socially engaged works have been exhibited internationally, with past projects including a commission for national charity Women’s Aid, and the production of several artworks for International Women’s Day, Barcelona 2012. Alongside Little Paper Slipper she is currently working on Structures of Being, a new body of sculptures made with metals and wood.

On the topic of the charity, Jones commented “The Little Paper Slipper project is really meaningful – I hear first-hand from the women how much they love the workshops and enjoy making the shoes. They tell me how it makes them feel good to have the opportunity to say how they feel and have someone listen - something they don’t usually get the chance to do – and also how the workshops teach them new things about life and themselves. The process helps them bond with each other, and provides a unique experience. I can’t emphasise how important this work is and how it genuinely has an impact on each woman who takes part - and for the public too, who see the shoes in the biennial exhibitions we hold, and find themselves both engaged and moved. Through this I hope to open up a wider dialogue on domestic abuse by giving the women a voice.”

The Little Paper Slipper project will continue alongside her other practices as a life-long body of work, with the aim to build the installation to over 1,000 paper slippers over the next 10 years. www.marielouisejones.com

As many predicted, Labour candidate Sadiq Khan has won the London Mayoral election with 44.2% of the vote. As usual, it was touted early on as a two-party race, in what turned to be a rather ugly contest full of accusations and name-calling.

Whilst it can be frustrating to feel locked in a two-party system, what has been interesting about this election is to see the emergence of the Women’s Equality Party. Whilst party leader and Mayoral candidate Sophie Walker may have only picked up around 2% of the vote, it’s positive not only to see the party run, but also that it has gained national media coverage.  (And, it’s worth noting, is a higher percentage than all the other smaller parties that the Lab/Con/Lib Dem/Green/UKIP regulars). Actress Emma Thompson has publicly backed the party, telling the Guardian that “she feels issues that are important to women, including equal pay, are sidelined from mainstream politics”. And it’s easy to see where she’s coming from – flicking through the mini-manifesto guide sent by the government, the pages seemed to mirror each other – either in the hateful rhetoric of the BNP and Britain First, or in the generic city-wide policies of the major parties. Yes, transport and housing are undeniably important, but it would be nice to feel approached on a level more personal than expensive infrastructure. That’s not to say that the candidates don’t acknowledge these issues – Khan’s manifesto includes prioritising “closing the gender pay gap and breaking the glass ceiling as key aims”, whilst both Khan and Goldsmith vowed to work on tackling violence against women and girls. Whilst it’s positive for candidates to be including these topics, to have a party project these issues at the forefront is encouraging as a woman, regardless of their electoral success.  

The party itself has grown at impressive speed – it was only in March 2015 that author and journalist Catherine Meyer proposed founding the party, with membership opening in July that year. It is interesting to see the online presence of the party – the party holds 26.1k Twitter followers – which is more than double the amount held by running mates including George Galloway’s Respect party (6,240 followers) and the (far less desirable) BNP (11.1k followers). Whilst these parties might be worlds apart in values and manifestoes, it is still interesting to see comparatively the volume of people engaging with those battling it out to have their voices heard above the Labour/Conservative tussle.

It’s not only the winning parties we make assumptions on, though – Green Mayoral candidate Sian Berry has spoken out this election that it is damaging to hypothetically refer to the next Mayor of London as a ‘he’ from the outset, arguing that this means that “all the good ideas female candidates are bringing to the campaign don’t get properly discussed or get dismissed in advance as unlikely to happen”. Berry makes a good point, but what pleases me is that it’s a point brought to attention by national media. Has the election broken beyond the two-party race? No – but what there has appeared to be is a greater discourse on women – both in policy and as candidates - and that is a snowball we can keep on pushing to the next race. 

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by Lizzie Scourfield

When did you begin the project and where did the idea for the charity come from?
 
The project began in 2013 - in 2012 I was commissioned by Women’s Aid, in partnership with Grey London Advertising, to create installation artwork for their ‘Cabinet of Dreams’ valentines fundraising campaign, and I thought that there was more that I could do for the cause than make a one-off artwork. I am a visual artist and an experienced art facilitator and had run workshops with vulnerable groups. At the time I was working on huge fairy-tale dresses made from paper, and thought that somehow I could utilise my skills and merge the two. The next six months were spent developing the idea, creating a workshop programme and fine tuning aspects of the project. I raised money through a crowdfunding campaign to fund a two month nationwide tour of workshops in refuges and the project was up and running! We had our first exhibition in 2014 and had touching feedback from visitors. Six months ago we became a fully constituted charity with a board of trustees and have now received funding for ‘Chapter II’ of the Little Paper Slipper – I would like to add a quick thank you to all the people who have helped me with this project along the way, and its supporters.
 
Where did the name ‘Little Paper Slipper’ come from?
 
It stems from the story of Cinderella, which was originally called ‘The Little Glass Slipper’. The underlying theme is the image of Cinderella, who in her monochrome ashes never lost her hope or sense of what is fair. The fairy-tale portrays repossessing a negative aspect of society and, through imagination, turning it into something beautiful – which is reflected in the project through the way the women draw on their experience of domestic abuse to creative positive and empowering works of art.
 
Why did you choose to use paper art? Do you find this is an easily accessibly material to work with?
 
I initially thought to use it as I was working with paper at the time I conceived the project. From there, I thought about the fact that paper is familiar to all people and is not exclusive as an art material. The hope is that people can be less afraid to approach making art with it than other materials, as most people have made something with paper before. There is a practical element too – paper is a cheap material, which means I can leave workshop materials with the women so that they can make the paper shoes with their children after the workshops are over. The qualities are important too – paper has a fragility, but when put through a process can actually become very strong, which really resonates with the project.
 
How many refuges have you visited so far? How large was the first exhibition?
 
So far I have held 22 workshops in nine different locations across England. The first exhibition of shoe installations included 56 women’s artwork. Chapter II will comprise of 20 more workshops in 10 different refuges across London, with the next exhibition showcasing an installation of over 150 little paper slippers – made by 150 women – at Islington Arts Factory (opens 23rd September 2016).
 
 
What do you feel is the most important thing the women get out of the charity?
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A creative voice: domestic abuse is about power, control, and the act of limiting another’s voice. Little Paper Slipper offers women who have experienced that a means to find their creative expression and use it to speak out. Through participating, they know they are doing something about the problem, raising awareness, and sending a message to the wider community. Women who have received domestic abuse support commonly express a desire to give something back, and the project offers that platform, and thereby the opportunity to turn a negative experience into a positive, empowering force.
 
Also importantly, but yet something which seems so simple, is that I want the women to enjoy themselves. I want them to have fun, to connect with each other, to feel good about themselves, and to laugh. In every single workshop on this project the women have really enjoyed making the shoes, even if the journey of making the shoe can be somewhat emotional. There is a freedom and joy in the experience. Art is a powerful cathartic process.
 
When the women’s artwork is presented to the public it turns each woman into an activist by showing her creation to the world. The exhibition serves to raise awareness about domestic abuse, but more than this it can also speak to and move people on a personal level by bringing them into direct contact with the women’s voices, which can challenge preconceptions and break the culture of silent acceptance.  The result is that visitors to the exhibitions find themselves feeling surprised, touched, informed, and changed.  Therefore it is not only the women who benefit, but also the public.
 
Do you feel as though women’s rights and domestic abuse is being talked about enough/ more than it used to be?
 
I think it is, which is positive in some ways, but the negative aspect of this is that it still even needs to be talked about, meaning that the problems still exist. We seem to be still fighting for rights that were fought for fifty years ago, which doesn’t exactly feel like progress.
 
I think domestic abuse is discussed more, and in a different light to how it used to be, but it is still viewed as a taboo subject that people can feel very uncomfortable talking about. Part of what the Little Paper Slipper aims to do is to try and break these taboos, by getting people talking about it openly. 1 in 4 women in England and Wales experience domestic abuse in their lifetimes, with 1.4 million experiencing it in 2013/14 alone, which included 85 murders.  Part of the problem is the extent to which domestic abuse, despite its prevalence, remains a hidden crime. Over 65% of incidents go unreported and all too often women who have experienced it also report feelings of shame and being judged, both of which pose barriers to reaching out. It is therefore crucial to raise awareness, and challenge a culture in which it is too easy to accept its existence or blame the victim. This requires expanding our understanding of what domestic abuse is, recognising its harms, and listening to women who have been affected.
 
What hopes and aspirations do you have for the future of the charity?
 
The hope is that there will one day be no need for our charity! Unfortunately I don’t see that happening in the foreseeable future, so our plans are to continue the work we are doing across Britain over the next 10 years, by building our collection of shoes to hundreds and then thousands.
During that time hopefully we can venture even further afield, with projects outside the UK to include women from all over the world. In 2018 we will be publishing a book about the project that will be distributed to women’s resource centres and libraries, with an e-book also available online to add a geographically unrestricted and permanently accessible dimension to the project. 
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​by Lizzie Scourfield

​This week singer Lily Allen has accused the Metropolitan police of ‘victim-shaming and victim-blaming’, following an interview on her experiences of stalking was published in The Observer. The interview details her seven-year ordeal of stalker Alex Gray, a stranger whose actions culminated in breaking into her home and entering her bedroom whilst her and her children were asleep, and expresses disappointment and criticism of the handling of the case. Allen recounts instances including the police initially refusing to show her a photograph of Gray, lending her a panic alarm before asking for it back, and neglecting to inform her of his court sessions for the case. In a follow-up interview with BBC’s ‘Newsnight’, she reads aloud an email she received from the Metropolitan police following the publication of the interview, asserting that the ‘high nature profile’ of her case might dissuade others from coming forward, and asking for her views on ‘what, if anything, went wrong’ in the investigation. She expresses again that she feels like both she, and Gray – who she understands to have mental health problems – have been let down, questioning ‘how many other people are being let down?’

Concerns by the Metropolitan police that this publicity could be discouraging disregards the sheer importance of opening a public dialogue on the topic. Despite the changes under the Protections of Freedom Act in 2012, which named stalking as an offence in its own right, the National Stalking Helpline reports that around half of those who call the helpline have not reported the crime, whilst many who have do not feel as though they have been taken seriously. Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service cites that data from the Crime Survey of England and Wales shows up to 700,000 women are stalked each year (2009-12), and that 2013/14 CPS figures account that of 61,175 allegations recorded by the police, 1% of stalking cases and 16% of cases of harassment resulted in a charge and prosecution by the CPS. It is frustrating that it takes a celebrity to catch our attention on an issue on something that affects so many women, but the ‘high profile’ nature of the case is certainly not where the problem lies.

Thus Allen’s decision to speak of her experiences should be perceived as a positive - giving a platform to those who have experienced stalking to speak out and seek help is undeniably important, if for nothing else but to validate the importance and severity of the issue. Even if a prosecution may not always be viable, every victim should have the right to feel acknowledged and offered support.

On a similar note, domestic violence charity Refuge cites that every minute police in the UK receive a domestic assistance call, yet only 35% of domestic violence incidents are reported to the police. Whilst Allen’s case is not of domestic abuse, the two problems are not totally unrelated as many women who experience domestic abuse have also experienced being stalked by their former partners. With domestic abuse affecting 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men in their lifetime, a vocal community of support is vital.   

Little Paper Slipper strives to give women affected by domestic violence a voice, hoping to provide an experience of empowerment for women through artistic workshops, whilst consequently using the artwork to open a dialogue on domestic abuse. Giving women a platform to explore and tell their stories enables them to gain back their power. Whilst Lily Allen may only be one story, it’s just that which is important: every story deserves a voice. 

​Post by Lizzie Scourfield

We are super delighted to announce that we have received public funding for Chapter II of The Little Paper Slipper. Along with other exciting developments; new team members, a project launch event, a short film, online shop plus more news all coming soon so please follow us to keep up to date with the Little Paper Slipper story...

-Team LPS
from the LPS HQ (tiny towers with big dreams)
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