I would like to become a qualified dress maker

This embroidered handkerchief features two magpies. One is bottom right of the work sitting on a branch which is angled across the plain. The other is coming to land from the top left hand corner with wings outstretched and has yellow embroidered stars that are surrounding the magpie in flight. Afghan Persian dialect is embroidered at the top and bottom of the work, when translated into English it reads 'I would like to become a qualified dress maker'. The artist statement by Gloldfinch reads: It is with gratitude that I wake most mornings to the carolling of magpies. I go outside hoping that their call will mask the sound of the opening door. These avian dinosaurs, occasionally stop to serenade me with their unique song. I am compelled. Their unique beauty captivates me as I quietly watch hoping that my movement doesn’t cause them to fly away. There is a loud exclamation and they are gone. A blurred fully of black and white, leaving me starting into the emptiness and wishing I could follow’.

This is one of 43 embroidered handkerchiefs that is a result of the Making Marks: Australia and Afghanistan - Unfolding Projects, an arts exchange project between women artists in Australia and women undertaking literacy and vocational classes at the Organisation of Promoting Afghan Women’s Capabilities (OPAWC) in Kabul.

Artists in Australia worked on the handkerchiefs in a variety of media and then sent them to Afghanistan. Many of the ‘once marked’ handkerchiefs reflect the Australian artists’ relationship with, and connection to, place, nature and history. These themes are also reflected in the ‘twice marked’ made by the Afghan women whose relations with, and connections to, their place and their history, resonates through each stitch and informs the hopes and dreams articulated in thread. The handkerchiefs are a simple message of solidarity between two cultures and give a sense of connection and friendship.