Farzana Ahmed; [Author]

Art

Art (ART)

Decorative

Art

This is a portrait of Lala Begum, a Rohingya embroidery artisan for the RCMC. It was painted by Farzana Ahmed Urmi, a Bangladeshi artist-in-residence for the RCMC.

Lala Begum learnt fultola (embroidery) from a woman in her neighborhood of Arakan. When her sister died during childbirth, Lala adopted the baby and carried her to the camp in big earthen pots and turoung (tumpline basket). She learnt to draw at the women friendly space after joining RCMC. Among the many projects Lala worked on, “House in Myanmar” was her favourite project; she does not know if she will ever see her house again so being able to embroider and immortalize her home, felt very soothing.