We Need 100 Flowers to Bloom – Arts Alive Festival

Over the weekend, we were honoured to be part of the Maleny Arts Alive Festival through a beautiful, collaborative pop-up exhibition — a women-led initiative that brought together heart, art, and purpose.

The project was a powerful collaboration between Madonna and Bronwyn from Maleny Neighbourhood Centre, Rita and Val from Speak Up Now – Stop Domestic and Family Violence, and Maggie Cairns from Better Together Housing. It was designed to raise awareness, open space for connection, and encourage conversation around the deeply important issues of domestic and family violence, housing insecurity, and healing through creativity.

Across the two days, the exhibition of paintings by Maggie Cairns sparked many rich and meaningful conversations with festival visitors. Several BTH members joined us to support the event and share in the experience — including Michele from Goodlife Community Centre. A heartfelt thank you to BTH member Liz, who generously helped with the set-up and pack-down of the space. 💜

A highlight of the weekend was a special Better Together Housing gathering held within the exhibition on Saturday morning — a joyful and connecting few hours surrounded by colour, care, and community.

At the heart of the exhibition was Maggie’s painting “Hung Out to Dry”, a tribute to the older women she walks beside in the Better Together Housing Program. The work honours their lived experience and brings visibility to the growing crisis of homelessness among older women — a reality too often left unseen.

🖼️ Artist Statement:
“Hung Out to Dry” is an acrylic on canvas inspired by my work with the Better Together Housing Program, supporting older women facing housing insecurity. The painting features serene faces of older women and small houses suspended on a washing line, interwoven with handwritten quotes—real words spoken to me over the past six months.

This artwork is both a tribute and a protest. It reflects the quiet despair and strength of women who feel invisible—discarded after lifetimes of raising families, working, and contributing to their communities. Their homelessness is part of the accelerating housing crisis, but its roots lie in structural gender inequality: lower lifetime pay, domestic violence, caring responsibilities, and inadequate superannuation.

Older women are the fastest-growing group of Australians at risk of homelessness. This piece is my way of bringing their words—and their realities—into the light, to be seen, heard, and no longer invisible.
— Maggie Cairns

A huge thank you to everyone who made this possible — and to all who came, listened, and connected. We need 100 flowers to bloom.