Today's feature artist is Cathy Braid, from Polly & Me. Examples of her work and the team of women she works with in Chitral, Pakistan, will be on display at the opening of Nest Gallery - including hand bags, wallets and an original piece of embroidery.
Polly & Me is a social enterprise. It is a business based on a model of contributing to the community they work in. Using themes from both international development and the private sector, they create jobs for women in a culturally acceptable manner where there are otherwise limited work opportunities.
Women in Chitral embroider in community spaces they can walk to, or they take the cloth and threads home to sew. The eight collectives across Chitral valley give the 500 or so women artisans space to work together in their neighbourhood, with the flexibility of maintaining their domestic roles.
One of these pieces, 'My Prayer is...' has just been selected as a finalist in the prestigious Blake Prize for religious art.
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