Amplifying the Artistic Works of Women Promoting Peace 

Michi Emma was in her final year of engineering school when the military coup in Myanmar turned her life upside down.  

“I realized I needed to do something impactful, so I picked up my pen and became a political cartoonist,” the 22-year-old said at an October event in Manila organized by The Asia Foundation. “With just a small tablet, I strive to shout to the world about what’s happening in Myanmar through my art.” 

Artists like Michi Emma—who became a political cartoonist to bring awareness to the impacts of the coup in Myanmar on young people like herself—are at the frontlines of a new generation of creatives and activists advocating for peace across Southeast Asia. Through visual arts, theater, and dance, these artists bring topics such as women’s empowerment and conflict resolution to wide audiences beyond their own communities.  

Armed conflicts and human security threats disproportionately impact women. The Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, or WPS, is a policy framework initiated by the United Nations in 2000 that prioritizes women’s participation in conflict prevention and in peace processes to contribute to longer, more resilient peace after conflict.   

The Asia Foundation is advancing the WPS agenda through the regional AMPLIFY initiative, supported by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In October 2024, the AMPLIFY team hosted Arts Activities for WPS: Creative Initiatives in Southeast Asia, a side event to the 2024 International WPS Conference in Manila. The event brought together regional artists and changemakers creating works ranging from cartoons to textile art to spark dialogues, shift narratives, and foster solidarity in peacebuilding efforts.  

Catherine McIntosh, New Zealand ambassador to the Philippines opened the event, highlighting AMPLIFY’s commitment to promoting women’s participation in peace and security through the adoption of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on WPS.  

The panel featured leaders from Timor-Leste, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Indonesia, who shared how they use art as a tool for peacebuilding. 

“Drawing cartoons might seem like a small act, but in reality, art has a powerful role in raising voices, inspiring change, and bringing communities together,” Michi Emma said. “In Myanmar, peace is not just about stopping bullets. It is about justice, safety, and giving women a seat at the table where decisions are made.  

“But how do we get people to care about these issues? How do we engage communities to demand change?” she continued. “Art, including cartoons, textile work, and street murals, can play a huge role.” 

Doodle Art Jember—an Indonesian mobile arts community—has lead community art competitions on the themes of bullying and victimization. As part of the Arts for Peace initiative lead by the Asian Muslim Action Network Indonesia, the Doodle Art competition winners were among the art projects that reached more than 23,000 on and offline viewers.  

While these creative activities build tolerance and promote peace among their audiences, they are also a powerful way of supporting the wellbeing of the artists themselves.  

Jamela Alindogan founded the Sinagtala Center for Women and Children in Conflict in Marawi and Sulu, in the Philippines, to support women impacted by both acute and prolonged conflict. Sinagtala engages women, including war widows and displaced women, in weaving to provide them with economic opportunities and artistic expression alongside mental health support. This is particularly beneficial in local communities where there is resistance or stigma to direct clinical psychology interventions. 

Sharing her story at the AMPLIFY event, Jamela described how the women weavers displaced by the siege of Marawi City in Mindanao in 2017 had initially resisted using black and white in their textile patterns as these colors were associated with the violent extremist group that had terrorized their city.  

Jamela shared how the Sinagtala Center provided weavers with counseling and a safe space to collectively process their trauma. Eventually, the women chose to reclaim the colors that they had previously feared by designing a textile pattern that they called “Boom Boom” to memorialize the sounds of the attacks they had experienced. The therapeutic benefits for the women weavers have been matched by their economic resilience built through Sinagtala’s Products of Peace initiative that transformed the “Boom Boom” textile along with the other designs of the weavers into fashion pieces for sale.  

AMPLIFY hopes to support more artists like Michi Emma, Doodle Art Jember, and the weavers of the Sinagtala Center across Southeast Asia to bring their creativity and their calls for conflict prevention and gender equality to audiences across the region and beyond. Their artworks can play an influential role in bringing new perspectives to policymakers and building public support for peacebuilding in communities across the globe.