AN artist from Bolton has travelled to the Middle East to help those who have lived under the brutal IS regime.

Tracy Fenton has flown to northern Iraq to become the first artist-in-residence at the city's University of Kurdistan Hewler (UKH) following the success of the Artfantastic organisation she set up in her home town to run creative therapy sessions for those with emotional issues, people affected by domestic violence and refugees.

Now she is using to use her skills to help those living in the Kurdish city.

Although Erbil is in a politically stable region of Iraqi Kurdistan, the city sits just an hour’s drive away from Mosul, recently recaptured from IS control in a fierce attack involving thousands of troops.

Tracy’s new students include internally displaced people as well as interpreters who work on the front line, but she says most people studying there have been affected by the nearby conflict in some way.

Others include members of families who have been affected by conflict for generations, including victims of chemical war under the Saddam regime.

As well as running art lessons UKH, the postgraduate student encourages all students and staff to come in to her newly created workshop where they can use art to express their feelings.

Tracy, an MA student of creative education at the University of Salford, also runs weekly sessions for members of the public.

She said: "Some of the students are passive victims of war, who have been affected by the conflict but not directly involved in it. But because they’ve been around conflict, some of them are very fragile and there are a lot of different emotions on display. You hear them say ‘it’s going to happen again’ or ‘what’s that sound’ when a van pulls up outside.

“It is very safe here but you see evidence of the war all the time. There are army helicopters passing overhead and there are soldiers with AK-47s on every street corner.”

Tracy, aged 49, emailed the university’s vice-chancellor explaining who she was and what she wanted to do — and within three days, she had been given the job.

She had to start from scratch when she arrived earlier this year, as there was no art equipment and no studio areas as the university had never ran any kind of art programme before – and many of her students had never previously held a paint brush.

Tracy says she has discovered some ‘world class’ talent there, with some students going on to display their work at the nearby United States Consulate, and others starting to make a living by selling it at the local bazaar.

But she believes the therapeutic benefits of art is the most important element of her work.

Tracy said: “A lot of my work is about getting people to express themselves, which is something that isn’t usually encouraged in the culture here – particularly for young men. These are people who have never done any art before, but they’ve also never been encouraged to open up about how they feel. It’s a brand new experience for them and it’s a wonderful thing to see.

“I run a project where I got them to draw pictures of what they wanted their future to look like. I’ve done other things where I’ve got them to walk across paint on the floor with their shoes and socks off. At first they didn’t know how to open up, but after a while they were singing and dancing, really enjoying the creative process.

“If they didn’t have this they’d go home carrying their emotions with them, but we’re allowing them to do something creative and release them.”

Sam Ingleson, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at the University of Salford, said: “Tracy has done something truly brave and extraordinary that demonstrates the power that engaging in the creative arts can have on a people’s lives, and we’re all incredibly proud of what she’s accomplished.”