Featured Project
Stitching our Stories, Restitching our Lives
Five years ago, Link Hands had an inspiration. Why not fuse together all of our interests (leadership, job training, family health, and indigenous culture) into a single initiative? And the seeds of Stitching our Stories, Restitching Our Lives were born.
For millennia in India, in the tradition of Kantha, women have sewn the stories of their lives into garments made from recycled saris. The products produced are exquisite: part folk art, part story.
And so Link Hands commissioned a circle of women who we had trained in Kantha to tell the stories of their lives. These are stories of degradation and redemption. Each of the women was a victim of domestic abuse. Some were beaten and thrown out of their homes by husbands who had found other women. Some were cast out by in-laws after their husbands had died. Most not only had to fend for themselves but were caring for babies and young children, as well.
And as a result of humanitarian assistance, each was given the tools to better themselves and make new lives.
Stitching our Stories, Restitching our Lives will be a national, traveling exhibition of 5 women’s kantha stories, comprising 45 different works of cloth. It is our hope that the exhibit will move viewers to reflect not only on the courage of these women but will cause them to consider the stories of their own lives as they restitch for themselves new possibilities.
The project is being generously underwritten by a gift from the Mamgain Foundation. We are currently seeking additional support.