Tears of Gold

Hannah Rose Thomas is a British artist and human rights activist. A Forbes 30 under 30, her work has been exhibited at the UK Houses of Parliament, European Parliament, the International Peace Institute in New York, Lambeth Palace, Westminster Abbey, and The Saatchi Gallery. Three of Thomas’ paintings of Yazidi women were chosen by HRH Prince Charles (now HM King Charles III) for his exhibition “Prince & Patron” in Buckingham Palace. She has been named a winner of Vogue’s Future Visionary award, and is a winner of the European Parliament’s Women’s Leadership Award. Tears of Gold was featured by Google Arts and Culture to mark the UN’s Official 75th Anniversary Program, “The Future Is Unwritten: Artists for Tomorrow.” Thomas is currently a UNESCO Art Lab for Human Rights and Dialogue PhD Scholar at the University of Glasgow. Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

One of Hannah’s aims is to capture not only the courage and stoicism of the women who have suffered so much, but also the nobility, dignity, and extraordinary compassion that many of them manage to retain, despite their traumatic experiences. I very much hope that this beautiful book, Tears of Gold, will help enable the Yazidi, Rohingya, and Nigerian women’s voices to be heard, as well as to highlight the issue of the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities in general. All too often, their stories of suffering remain unseen and unheard – but Hannah Thomas is doing tremendous work in bringing their stories out into the open. May her powerful paintings spread the word and, God willing, have a positive impact in relieving the suffering of some of the most vulnerable and marginalized communities around the world. —HRH Prince Charles, prior to his accession as HM King Charles IIIHannah Rose Thomas is a remarkable painter and story-teller. Her publication: Tears of Gold is not simply an exposé of her artistic skill, it is much more than that – it is her deposition, her witness statement to the suffering of a fellow being. Containing the portraits of survivors of extreme violence (and sexual and gender-based violence in the case of many) the book centers on their individual stories and, by extension, the horrific atrocities experienced by their communities. … There may well be tears – after all, their pain is immense – but those tears are often unaccompanied by other emotions. There is so much control and a natural humility, the effect is simply startling. It is not what the observer commonly expects – and Hannah captures the authority within each survivor perfectly and beautifully. —Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human RightsAs I sobbed my way from one grim life to the other, I felt increasingly certain that this was beautiful art doing beautiful things in a terrible world. Bravo, Hannah Rose Thomas. —Waldemar Januszczak, The Sunday TimesBritish artist Thomas’s stunning debut presents her paintings of two dozen women who have endured persecution and displacement across the globe. Thomas visited compounds and refugee camps to interview her subjects, and renders their stories with a brevity that belies their intensity.…But Thomas’s portraits are the high point: she captures her subjects’ particularities, as well as the sometimes-haunted, sometimes-resolute gaze they share.…Fashioned with uncommon care, this impresses.  –Publishers Weekly, starred reviewThe goal behind the book is to inspire empathy and compassion for these women through the portraits within. Art, because of its contemplative nature, can help foster such values, which Thomas believes are easy to shake loose in modern society. —Religion UnpluggedHannah's soft-spoken nature belies a bold and compassionate spirit and her mission to give voice to the voiceless through the healing properties of art. [She] has organized art programs in hotspots around the globe, gently teaching and ministering to survivors of horrendous violence and loss. —Erin Rodewald, The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation and CultureFor Hannah Rose Thomas, art is a means to process trauma, and to give expression to feelings that words and language are too limited to convey: "There is an absence of cultural narratives that allow women to look upon their survival as heroic, courageous, and resilient. We can never underestimate the healing power of listening and bearing witness to another’s story, and I seek to do this through painting. It is a form of hospitality and makes space for their voices to be respected and valued.” –Church Times, UKAn incredible book reflecting a decade’s worth of work by artist and human rights activist Hannah Rose Thomas. …What a powerful collection. —Woman Alive Magazine"So beautiful and moving." —Sky News TV, UKThomas’s portraits are the work of a masterful artist. . . .They have been shown in the UK Houses of Parliament, Lambeth Palace, and Westminster Abbey, Washington, D.C., New York City, and more. Now Plough Publishing has brought these beautiful paintings to the ordinary household. —Mere OrthodoxyFeaturing moving and beautiful portraits of female survivors of conflict and sexual violence, Hannah Rose Thomas’ art imparts dignity, resistance and justice to these women. . . . By treating them “as subjects in their own stories rather than as objects in the stories of others”, they become testimony to our shared humanity. —Baroness Lister, The House Magazine, UKAs works of art, the portraits are extraordinarily skillful and beautiful, but they are so much more than that. They offer a glimpse into the soul of women who have experienced the most unspeakable suffering. —Seen and UnseenHannah Rose Thomas has painted these portraits with her whole heart and likens this painting to prayer; it is surely an act of love. As the women look out at us from their portraits and share their words on the page, this book brings us close to their experience, helping people everywhere understand what these women have endured and how they can help. —Friends Journal