Art: Cynthia Tom

Our Mission

A PLACE OF HER OWN™ (PLACE) is an art-based social justice program focused on cultivating and strengthening self-agency in women and communities of color, through sustained creative practice and community.
PLACE works for those who carry the impacts of colonization, forced migration, slavery, patriarchy, war, and cultural conditioning, using art as a tool to examine, challenge, and transform inherited patterns of trauma.

PLACE reframes trauma not as pathology, but as the starting point for reclamation and transformation. Through intuitive artmaking, storytelling, and collective dialogue, participants develop the capacity to listen inward, trust their intuition, and reclaim agency voice and belonging in their own lives. This work supports the gradual release of judgment, guilt, and shame while building confidence, leadership, compassion, and voice.

Rooted in social justice and collective healing, PLACE centers historically silenced experiences and creates both private and public platforms where creative expression becomes a practice of courage. Through workshops, residencies, exhibitions, and community collaboration, PLACE helps build the inner strength necessary to stand in one’s truth, claim space, and act with agency, individually and collectively.

PLACE’s Origin Story

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Where it all started

Our Approach

PLACE uses intuitive art-making, discussion and storytelling to explore family history, inherited patterns, and lived experience. This work invites deep self-reflection and asks participants to engage honestly with material that can be challenging or emotional.

PLACE is not a casual art experience. It is designed for people who feel ready to examine their stories, beliefs, and family patterns through creative practice. Participants are supported to move at their own pace, but the process requires openness, curiosity, and willingness to go beneath the surface.

    • Intuitive Collage™and INTUIT Cards™

    • Beliefs That Hold Me Back™  

    • PLACE Family Pattern MAP™

    • PLACE Love Letter to Myself™

    • Artistically answer,  “If you had a place of your own, what would it be?”           

      • Found Object art creation.  

      • Create Your Art Statement and Intention

    • Exhibitions and Artists’ TALKs  

    • Panel discussions, Lectures and conversations

*Hungry Ghosts is a broad Asian concept that refers to insatiable souls wandering the earth unfulfilled. PLACE uses Hungry Ghosts refers to one’s chronic heartaches, family patterns and beliefs that hold us back.

All Rights Reserved

All Rights Reserved 2026. Developed by Cynthia Tom for  A PLACE OF HER OWN™ and Illuminate PLACE™

  • Attribution: Please give appropriate credit when sharing. “Content created by Cynthia Tom for A PLACE OF HER OWN™ and Illuminate PLACE™.”

  • No reproduction of materials without permission.

  • Not for commercial use without permission.