Helen Wilson helenwilson

About Helen Wilson

Artist Statement:
“Her aesthetic sensibility is acute and she is a truly gifted artist. But the greatest gift she brings to these paintings is humanity…”
Fergal Keane – From “Making sense a Rwandan story” catalogue

Helen Wilson is a black/dual heritage (Jamaican and English) working class, professional, self taught artist from Bristol, England. Her principal medium is figurative painting (in oils). Helen’s work addresses social and cultural issues.

Helen started painting fairly late in her life (her thirties) after seeing an image on the television in 1994, at the time she was a single mum living in Easton the inner city of Bristol.
An image of the Rwandan genocide was broadcast on the television, this compelled Helen to learn more about the circumstances, initially to educate her children, but later to raise awareness of the tragedy that went untold. This led Helen to recognise that her communication tool was her paintbrush.

In 2002 with very little funding, Helen traveled alone to Rwanda. She met survivors and visited massacre sites. The people she met and the sights she saw were the inspiration behind thirteen large scale oil paintings that she painted on her return. They tell a powerful story of personal dignity, courage and survival. Many of the stories that Helen heard were too traumatic to describe or even paint but through her use of colour, representing the beauty of Rwanda and its people, Helen communicates the stories in a way that is accessible and moving. The exhibition is called “Making Sense a Rwandan Story”.

Helen’s aim in the exhibition was to explore reconciliation and education in areas of conflict and division. Using the experience of the Rwandan nation seeking to heal itself and reconcile internal divisions after genocide. Making Sense a Rwandan story is a stimulus for debate and learning, enabling exhibition visitors both young and old to expose various perspectives on conflict resolution and peace building.

This has been a life changing experience for Helen, emotionally. The Making Sense exhibition was Helen’s first solo exhibition and also the first exhibition of oil paintings based on the Rwandan genocide in the U.K.

Helen gifted the Making Sense paintings to the Embassy of Rwanda / London 2006. The Embassy have arranged for the paintings to be taken to Rwanda to stay permanently.