Teacher graduates after inspirational project to support domestic abuse survivors

Andrea Lowe has excelled on the University’s MA Socially Engaged Arts Practice course as a part-time student, mother-of-one. 

The 46-year-old, who works as an Art and Design lecturer at Knowsley Community College, is a Create Student Award winner and was also named as one of this year’s Graduate Scholars from the University of Salford Art Collection. 

Her work with the Chrysalis Centre for Change in St Helens has been applauded as she has delivered a number of interventions to help support women who have faced domestic abuse in their own homes.

The interventions, which were later collated into photographic collages, have been deeply personal for Andrea as a survivor of domestic abuse herself.

After holding a decade-long ambition to return to University, Andrea enrolled at Salford in 2023, whilst juggling her four-day job as a teacher and as a single parent.

The decision has proved to be transformative for her in terms of her personal confidence and also her creativity as a teacher.

She said: “Before I joined Salford, I think I had lost my confidence. As an arts teacher, you give everything to your students and I think it got in the way a little bit and that I maybe wasn’t being as creative as I could have been.

“I then had my child whilst I was in an abusive relationship and I was going through the trauma of that. 

“Something in me felt that that I then needed to do the programme, because it felt like something was missing in me.

“It’s why I picked the Socially Engaged Art programme because that felt right as it was about social justice, civic engagement and working with other people who’d been through that kind of experience. 

“I’ve absolutely loved it and I think it’s because I really wanted to do well for myself and get something out of it.

“It’s also made me know my students better and helped make me a better teacher. Looking back, I don’t know how I made it all work, but I’m so glad I did.”

Andrea has worked with the Chrysalis Centre at multiple points over the two years whilst studying at Salford.

This work included a participatory art project with women from the centre in which, as part of the recovery programme and reintegration back into the community, she was able to arrange for the women to go on walks outside of the centre. 

Whilst on the walks, the women were given prompts on what they could share with one another and take photos of via camera phones to use during the walk. The photos were then developed into collages.

Andrea added: “Everything they do at the centre is within a closed space in a room. So it was an achievement to get them out and engaging with each other and the world in a public space. It was art in action.

“I was one of those women at a crisis centre before and there’s this unspoken language between people where you can look at others and there’s a feeling that you can’t put into words from just a look. 

“I know how valuable these services are, so for me it was about being able to give something back. Transforming the anger into something good instead of holding on to it.”

The project was lauded by the centre with Andrea praised for her passion for the work and ‘genuinely caring about the ladies and the work that [the centre] does.’

It was with this success that she then applied for and was successful at enrolling for the University of Salford Art Collection’s Graduate Scholarship programme. Delivered in partnership with Manchester’s Castlefield Gallery, the programme grants participants mentoring, coaching, research trips, bursaries for research and materials and their won studio space.

Andrea said: “It’s an incredible opportunity and I was really lucky to get it. For me, getting the opportunity to have studio space for a year and to be working with a group of artists around it, make it so special. I’m going to make the most of it and the professional development it will provide.”

As for the future, Andrea plans to build on the work she’s done with women’s centres and is keen to look at opportunities to teach within higher education.

She said: “I want to grow the work that I’ve done and all the surrounding issues with it. It’s an area that will always be close to my heart, but in a broader sense, trauma is massive and people experience it in a lot of different ways.

“There’s a lot to be said about bringing forward trauma-informed initiatives and that’s what I’m hoping to do, to work with those who have had a trauma experience. I want to build on what I’ve achieved and develop a long-term approach.”