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CHILDHOOD
WILLESDEN GREEN WEEKLY SEWING CIRCLE
Bora Hong
Blowing bubbles up into the air was my favourite pastime as a child in Korea. Just watching the colours, dancing in the sky with nature as a backdrop, fills me with joy.
Sayaka Hanaguchi
I spent most of my childhood summers in the countryside in Japan with my grandfather and grandmother hence the flowers. The boat in my picture represents my father who was always away working on a tanker.
Ashika Patel
I’ve created an image of my sister, representing thoughts of a shared childhood experience missed as we lived in separate homes and never knew each other as children.
Nico Pollen
Playing in the rain in Wales. Rain drops bouncing in the puddles as my mother watches over me.
Sheena Shah
My childhood oriented around maths and science which were my favourite subjects. I’ve embroidered chocolate, a memory from childhood, as well as chemical symbols in sequins.
Magdalene Bailey
My mother was a seamstress and my father a tailor. So I grew up surrounded by beautiful fabrics in rich colours. This is shown in my work by colourful shapes, sequins and stitch work, as I became a professional pattern cutter in ladies and children’s wear.
Susan Roberts
Cow parsley makes me think of my childhood growing up on a farm in Cornwall.
Nicola Chance
I’ve created a sampler – or page of a sketchbook – showing the range of choices I had as a child.
Wendy Roberts
My childhood was spent in Gibraltar where we had lots of sunshine and sea views.
EDUCATION
Year 6 CHILDREN from Breakspear Junior School, Ickenham
Maria Terraciano
I love the plays we put on every year.2
Hanna Blackburn
I like P.E. lessons because I love to wear my trainers and run around.
Anoushka Chadha
I like lunch time best.
Christina Donahey
It’s all about learning how to read and write.
Megan Fisher
Mine is a classroom scene with a blackboard as the centre piece.
Dina Jalaf
My picture shows our Head Master with his car.
Helen Philbrook
Some of the teachers are scary like my dragon.
Aditti Chadha
I love to play with my special friends on the hill like Sophie, Lucy, and Sponge Bob.
Lucy Emberson –
I love to swim in year 5.I also enjoy it outside of school.
BODY IMAGE
QUEENS PARK COMMUNITY SCHOOL
Alina Aliyeve
Make up, lip gloss, represent women to me
Lauryn Melville
My picture has all the things I think a women need to improve their own image.
Alex Marini
The eye. People are always looking at you, judging. The model wears a veil because not everything is about beauty.
Melissa Brigden-Rumsey
Hair is very important to me. I feel that tells people a lot about you. It should be clean and tidy.
Pooja Taylor I think all women should have and wear Glamorous clothes. That is the best part about being a woman.
Yasmine Abboud
Some people are ashamed of their looks. It is very hard to be perfect.
Scarlet Mae
My piece is based on Imperfections. Two faces in half. Good and Bad. Both of them have their own unique beauty.
Grace Smart
Magazine culture is getting the better of women. It causes people to become anorexic and feel bad about themselves.
Sanna Rajaei
The run away bride. A poor girl marries a rich man but life is hard as she is still the same person from the inside.
Faryah Zaffar
I love make –up and think it helps women to show their body image. They can paint themselves how ever they want.
GENDER
Asian People’s Disability Alliance
Hena Pragji
Once I dressed up as a beautiful fairy with wings. That was my best day as a woman.
Fariha Quddus
I want to be a celebrity so I can dress up like Queen Cleopatra all day. I would love to wear Jewels and a crown.
Kiran Modha
I feel a woman’s beauty is like a delicate flower.
Sudhaben Joshi
I’m 82 years old and feel I have spent most of my life being a parent. I had eight brothers and sisters who are all younger than me bar one. My father died in 1940 so I had to help bring up my younger siblings. Then I also had three children of my own. One of whom died at a very young age. I feel I as a mother of all I have touched many lives.
Rekha Mehta
Woman is the centre of all creation. God is in the centre of my universe. He gives woman the power to love and get inspiration from nature.
Nouria Yahi
As a woman I feel I am holding the key to my children’s’ life, success and achievements.
Mumtaz Hashim
I love to dance and dress up.
Jasoda Patel
I want to be a woman again in my next life so I can wear nice clothes again.
Surekha Patel
I feel a woman has unequalled beauty – inside and out.
MARRIAGE
WOMEN FROM BRENT IRISH ADVISORY SERVICE
Michelle Cafferkey
I am married to myself at the moment that’s why there is only one person in my picture. Maybe one day I will find Mr Right.
Isabella Houliston
Hearts and flowers with beautiful green lace patterns are my idea of marriage.
Margaret Preston
When I think of marriage, I think of a wedding dress, long, floaty, and made out of voile. It is waisted, off the shoulder, with ‘fancy work’ in white on the bodice. 4
Ann Gaughan
I think of the wedding cake that I made. I made my own wedding cake. It was soon after the war when fruit etc was scarce so we had to save up. It was two-tiered, with white icing and had little horseshoes and bells on it .
Noreen Murphy
I had one bridesmaid, who wore a maroon-coloured, short dress. It was my sister, who was in her teens at the time). It was in 1948. I was 26, and wore a pale blue dress. We thought that the maroon would make a nice contrast.
Patrice Fennell
I’m not married yet, but the way I visualise it is on a hill with the sun shining down. My groom and I will stand under a star like canopy, with lots of love hearts all around.7
Chrissy O’Connor
My marriage was beautiful just like my dress. All white lace with cream flowers and beads.
Ursula Ruddy
Two hearts/two people make a marriage.
Mary Clark
‘My marriage was a load of old rubbish’(In jest)! Well I guess it was so Glorified that all I felt was disappointment when it happened to me.
MOTHERHOOD
West London Mothers Group
Kalpana Mistry
I have in the centre of my picture the oldest and youngest women in my family. The colours in my work show bright as the good side and darks as the bad side of life.
Kiran Dave
My picture shows the universe (womb) at the centre of creation. Life cycles are represented by the circles.
Nidhi Uppal I see my children as an extension of my sari strings. Motherhood is a colourful experience -each child adding his own unique hue to the spectrum. The sequinned flower is me, the only female in the household!
Fozia Choudrey
My children are my beautiful flowers. The blues in the sea represent many happy times in the Maldives. The fish are my two girls who shine.
Nikki Josen
Life is a journey from cradle to grave. As a woman I feel I am the driving force in my children’s lives
Anita Ambasna
Footsteps through life leaving a big mark. Time with children seems limited as they grow up so quickly.
Yvonne Watson
I’ve really enjoyed being a mother and grandmother despite the trauma of giving birth. My piece depicts various stages of motherhood – from my Caesarean section through all the phases of my children’s development.
Nisha Chadha
I felt feminine and beautiful during my pregnancy and childbirth. The overwhelming love and protection made me feel powerful and special. The buttons and fastenings represent my holding my family together.
Cat Tanner
I see life as a cake I’m baking for my children. There are many different slices i.e. jobs to be done whether you are good at them or not, they are still your responsibility as a woman.
FRIENDSHIP
Asian Women’s Resource Centre
Shoba Vhehela
Friendship to me means giving love and hugs. A gift of flowers is perfect to receive or give to a special friend!
Lata Chauhan
The peacock is a symbol of love and friendship. It’s feather are delicate and striking, with its colourful hues.
Kusum Vhehela
Flowers are beautiful and colourful and thus represent a wonder
friendship.
Lata Chauhan
This crotcheted friendship band is a strong and versatile symbol of my friendship, worn as a wrist band or arm band.
Chandrika Gajarwala
I understand birds and fragrant flowers to be the best symbols of my friendship.
Lata Chauhan
The peacock in all its glory! This resplendent bird displays its beauty and in my culture is an eternal symbol of friendship.
Hemakshi Bhogaita
My sweet smelling rose is a flower I would give to my best friend.
Bhavna Bhogaita
I love the colours of flowers and this large flower is like my big heart, the idea came from my daughter – my dear friend.
WOMEN’S ROLES
Heba
Rahima Jahan
I am the star in my house, the centre of it all. Each one of my fingers tells a story. The flowers are my daughters. ABC represents education, the bandage shows healing. The split pattern shows life outside and inside my home.
Hamida Begum
The house and home is central in my life. The woman is key to the household running smoothly with many jobs. The key on my embroidery represents this.
Pim Dejdiamrong
My two hands are overlapping, representing the two roles I play, at home and at work. They show time and emotion. On the side is my little bit of wickedness, a cigarette.
Fatema G.
I have many tasks and duties. I have written words in Arabic-religion.(Deen) Education (Talim) Family (Usraa) Work (Amaal) and Home (Albyth)From an Arabic prospective.these five things were the foundation of my role as a women.
The heart on hand above the brain means my thought come through the heart into practice.
Anne Wilding
My hand shows the women as Queen – but her place on the throne depends on all the things others expect her to do, like keep a tidy house, a good figure and a perfect marriage.
Kanez Fatema
The henna pattern on my hand represents all the jobs I have to do as a women – my daily routine of shopping (there is an orange plastic supermarket bag), children, homework, cleaning and so on.
Anjum IshtiaqWomen are the driving force behind education, a country’s success, happiness, the heart and the family.
Anjum Ishtiaq
My life is a balancing act between work and the home, work at 9am and home at 5pm. The apron says everything.
Jamila Chowdhury
I have three beautiful daughters who look up to me. I have to teach them religious education as well as the curriculum My henna pattern shows a clock in the centre of my hand to represent time management. House hold chores, packed lunches, P.E. bags and my pass time sewing. I keep peace and happiness by giving them toys and activities to do.
HEALTH
Royal School of Needlework participants
Carol Dowsett-Hill
I feel healthiest and happiest when cycling on a sunny day.
Nicola Chance
Having something beautiful to look at can have a huge impact on overall well being. Being creative is healthy in itself.
Wendy Benn
To enjoy life to the full as we age, we need fresh air, a healthy diet, a sound heart, good eyesight and a trouble-free set of teeth!
Amanda Beasley
These are the fruits of the earth – cauliflower, pumpkin, beetroot, parsnip, courgettes, onions and carrots. I often cook using the vegetables.
Mary Treherne
I love the sun and the sea. Both make me feel healthy.
Cathy Davidson
The Red Cross symbolises hospitals and health for me. I don’t tend to think about my health until something goes wrong. We can take good health too much for granted.
Sue Jacobs
A cartoon strawberry: keeping healthy can be simple and fun
Cristiana de Mela
This is a cycle symbolising women’s health through the eternal movement from birth to death.
Jacqueline Smith
The heart represents a ‘Route to Health’. It is important to maintain a healthy heart through good food, water, exercise and plenty of rest.
OLD AGE
Brent artist Christine Warrington, who works as a nurse, used stitches and veiled photographic panels to reflect a long-standing relationship and her many conversations with 93-year-old Rose, which have helped her think about mortality and old age.
“Old age is something that many people find hard to articulate,” she says. “But visual images can sometimes convey something that language cannot.”