We Rise - Art as Activism

In her third piece of the series exploring sexualised violence through art. “We Rise,” shifts the narrative from vulnerability and fear to one of resilience, power and rebirth.

At the centre of the painting, a phoenix bursts forth from a city engulfed in flames. Buildings collapse into rubble, smoke fills the sky and the world below burns. This imagery speaks to the profound and often devastating impact sexualised violence can have on a survivor's world - altering their sense of safety, shattering their trust and leaving them to navigate life through the ruins of what once was.

But from that devastation, the phoenix rises.

Symbolising transformation, strength and fierce renewal, the phoenix refuses to be consumed by the fire. It carries the scars of what has been lost, but it also carries the undeniable truth that survival is not the end of the story - rising is.

Through “We Rise,” Mikayla honours the painful reality of trauma without diminishing the extraordinary courage it takes to heal. She reminds us that survivors are not defined by the violence they endured. They are defined by the resilience it takes to stand again, to rebuild and to create something new from the ashes.

Mikayla invites viewers to sit with the reality that healing is rarely linear or easy. It is messy, painful and often feels impossible in the beginning. But like the phoenix, survivors possess an inner fire - one that cannot be extinguished, even by the greatest destruction.

What might it mean to see survivors not just as people who have survived, but as people who have risen - wiser, stronger and unstoppable?