Sharing A Pop-Up Exhibition
All week, Blue Noun has its door open, inviting visitors to an exhibition happening in our space.
As part of the Crieff Arts Festival, we invited the Polish Women’s Circle to display an exhibition I first saw in Perth Art Gallery, celebrating International Women’s Day.
She Wears Her Heritage Like a Crown – A Tribute to All Women is an exhibition of 14 portraits on easels, by photographer Patrycja Mikołowska, and organised by Renata Fraser and Sylwia Krużyńska.
Each piece celebrates the spirit of Slavic women by photographing each subject with ornate crowns made up of flowers, ribbons, feathers and other bright decorations.
She Wears Her Heritage Like a Crown is an exhibition of images of women compellingly proud to be themselves. Proud of their heritage.
Identifiably themselves, they are, at the same time, a theatrical version, a wonderfully extravagant part of a greater culture, and the latest of a line of ancestors.
Why is this Art Exhibition at Blue Noun Language Hub?
I invited the Polish Women’s Circle to show this work as soon as I saw it, enchanted by this perspective of women who call Scotland home, who are raising bilingual families – and living in an English-speaking world.
Learning a new language can feel like erasing your own culture – especially if migration is not by choice (and we can include economic migration in this).
In the process, parts of your core self can get lost, especially for women who have their heads down, raising children. (To be honest, I lost part of myself in that process, and I was doing it in my homeland.)
At Blue Noun, I want to show that it doesn’t have to be this way.
About Assimilating into UK Culture
I selected this exhibition to bring to the Crieff Arts Festival because a lot of traditional language learning implicitly asks you to move towards the target culture.
I write this post as someone who has travelled.
I’ve lived for months in a country where no one spoke more than beginner English. I’ve lived and worked in France, in French, feeling my subtlety fade into definitive statements as I didn’t have the language skills to express nuance.
I now help people put themselves back into language learning.
Blue Noun never tries to produce a more English version of somebody — because that would mean becoming less of yourself.
We share experiences of art, craft, landscape, history, song and music as ways into language and culture. It’s additive, not an overlay.
Much of Blue Noun’s work is about discovering who you can be in English.
Language learning should have nothing to do with turning your back on your heritage or values, and everything to do with visiting them from new angles and having conversations that matter to you.
Blue Noun does this. Our guests may, for the first time, use a language originally acquired for practical necessity to talk about things that genuinely matter to them.
About the Organisers
Renata and Sylwia are the founders of the Women’s Circle – a welcoming space created to bring women together for support, inspiration, and personal growth.
Together, they facilitate sessions where women explore their creativity, share their experiences, and build meaningful connections with one another. Their aim is to create an environment where every woman feels welcomed, understood, and accepted.
Renata has worked for more than 17 years as a community educator and transformational coach. She supports both women and men to discover their strengths, realise their full potential, and make positive changes in their lives.
Sylwia, who has been involved with Bajka Education Centre for many years, is a talented artist (she’s on an epic mural painting mission to transform the space). Sylwia made the crowns the women are photographed wearing.
Her passion for creativity and self-expression inspires others to explore their own talents and discover new ways to express themselves.
About the Women’s Circle
The Women’s Circle is a warm, friendly, and supportive space where every woman can feel comfortable being herself and exploring her creative side.
There is no pressure, no judgement, and no expectation to be anything other than who you are. Instead, it is a place to connect, create, reflect, and share experiences with other women in a welcoming and encouraging atmosphere.
We believe that women are at their strongest when they support and inspire one another.
That is why we are creating a community where every woman, regardless of her age, background, or stage of life, can find a sense of belonging and feel empowered to grow.
About the Women
The women in the photographs are all members of the Women’s Circle, which meets at least once a month. Stepping in front of a camera took courage. One participant described how she found even the act of wearing red lipstick stark, but as it was something they all did together, they felt braver.
Come and See for Yourself
She Wears Her Heritage Like a Crown – A Tribute to All Women is on display at Blue Noun Language Hub as part of Crieff Arts Festival 2026.
The exhibition is free to visit, and our doors are open 11-4pm throughout the festival week.
The Set Up
Watch a stop-motion video of the installation in the Blue Noun space.
Further Information
Discover Blue Noun’s Programme of Events for the Crieff Arts Festival
Related pages:
Gender and language learning:
→ Language Holidays for Women: Why Design Matters
→ The Gathering | Female-led Language Learning
Art and Culture
→ Do You Need to Learn British Culture to Learn English?
→ Culture-Led English Learning: Best Practice for a Language Holiday
