Sara Khatun; [Author]

Fultola (embroidery)

Embroidery (EMB)

Art

Decorative

In Quindaung village of Buthidaung township, Sara Khatun’s father’s house was right beside her uncle’s house. She spent a lot of time in her uncle’s two storied totta ghor (traditional Rohingya wooden house) so she drew both houses surrounded by farm animals and trees. Whenever she had her monthly period, Sara Khatun would pick green mangoes from the trees near her house to eat it mixed with salt and chili. Sometimes she would worry the strong winds of jor boyar (nor’wester storm) could destroy the houses. Her favorite season is monsoon because it does not get unbearably hot. ‘I used to love drawing water from the ponds with my girlfriends in the late afternoon. They are in the camp now but I do not get to see them.’

‘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.