A well attended exhibition held in Brecon recently told two stories about women. The Red Dress and the Community Shawl celebrated women’s expression and traditions of creativity.

The most spectacular part of the show was the Red Dress, which is the work of nearly 400 artists and was the centrepiece of an exhibition titled ‘Resilience.’ The international dress was flanked by display figures from more local artists.

One of these, the Community Shawl, curated by Emma Bevan, is also the result of collaborative effort between 120 women who made the squares which decorate the dress, each telling the story of community, tradition and skills in Wales.

The community shawl grew from the cape used by a nurse at Abergavenny’s Pen y Fal hospital and Rhona Boddie’s play “Siol” told the story of two women whose lives were involved with the hospital, and was packed out for each of its performances in the studio theatre at Theatr Brycheiniog.

Contributors to the shawl ranged from students to residents at Penpergwm House with each square featuring elements of the colour red which was also important in the dress and supporting pictures displayed by Carol Kay which highlighted the number of women murdered each year by family or partners. Black ribbons hanging on the dress shared the names of a hundred women along with details of when and where killings took place and by whom they women were murdered.

Mary Wrenn choreographed and performed in a ballet dealing with femicid which was filmed in the Chapel in Abergavenny, and showed performers recognising tragedy through dance.

The exhibition in the gallery upstairs in the theatre was very successful, attracting nearly 2,000 visitors in a week. The talk by Red Dress creator Kirstie Macleod was sold out, the audience buying every copy of her book after the talk.