Our Stories in Nakshi Kantha: Phase 3

The wonderful women at New Hope Global have embarked on the third and final phase of their project, Our Stories in Nakshi Kantha. This project looks at the migration stories of local women in Aston from their birth countries, mainly Bangladesh. Whilst many of the women arrived in the UK a few decades ago, some women recently migrated during Brexit from neighbouring European countries. The project hopes to build bonds of friendship between the participants through their shared experiences. The first phase of the project drew out the women’s stories using drama techniques and this was followed by visualising designs relating to these stories before beginning the stitching phase.

Local textiles artist Abeda Begum began working closely with participants after Ramadan. She has been helping participants select colours, threads and use various stitching techniques to bring their stories to life. The women have so far learnt numerous technical skills as well as gaining confidence and making friends. As part of the project, the participants have visited two exhibitions and will be attending more as they begin to put together their own to showcase their work later this year.

Image credit: Salsabil Khalifa, Minya Productions