Hivron Turnali was originally an interior designer but in the last three years she has discovered that her love for art has taken over.
Her love for painting started when she first visited Kurdistan Region in 2015 after IS had attacked Sinjar. She wanted to help the displaced Yazidi people, especially girls and children. She stayed in Kurdistan Region for six week returning to Canada.
Ms Turanli says her "mind and emotions were all over the place" because of what she had seen. All she wanted to do is help those displace children.
She started painting in her spare time especially at night. Then she would post her paintings on Facebook and Instagram.
After her postings on social media, she received overwhelming feedbacks.
"People wanted to know how they could purchase my artwork," she says. "Without giving it much thought, I realised I could simply ask people to make donations to the causes I support and I would give them the painting they wanted. This was until I set up my own charity organisation - Paint Away the Trauma."
