Jannat Ara; [Author]

Fultola (embroidery)

Art (ART)

Embroidery (EMB)

Decorative

Art

Jannat Ara lived in this house in Quindaung village of Buthidaung township for only a year. She lived there with her husband, child and her two brothers-in-law. While drawing it, she felt happy remembering her neighborhood. ‘Kurshida was my best friend there. She is still my best friend but now we have to sit inside the shelter to talk. We cannot sit outside. It does not feel the same anymore.’

‘Fara’ is the Rohingya word for village or a collection of households, which may include many households from the same ‘gushti’ or extended family. In Arakonor Fara, a mixed-media embroidery and printing-making project, the embroidery artists recollected memories of their fara: the fruit trees, fish ponds, friends and villagers who filled in the contours of their worlds. Some of the embroidery artisans were old neighbors, tracing their friendships back to the same fara, while others became new friends through working together in the camp.