As embroiderers, we understand the universal appeal of stitching onto fabric. Patterns, colours, designs, and stitches are all part of the language of embroidery. And just like with the alphabet, the same limited range of symbols can be arranged in different formations and orders to create infinite stories in many languages and genres.
Like embroidery, stories and the art of storytelling are used across the world and throughout time to communicate, commemorate, and document events and experiences, whether true or imagined.
While researching Mapula Embroidery (p!2), familiar themes emerged. Stories I have heard before. Difficult stories about hardship, struggle, poverty, illiteracy, and loss. But also, joyful stories about hope, celebration, victory, and love. And ail these stories were 'written' with thread on cloth.
These stories took me down memory Lane,…