The book
This book gives an interim report five years after initiation of an embroidery programme in Laghmani, Afghanistan. It is not intended as an ethnological dissertation, but as a personal account of impressions gained by the author Pascale Goldenberg during her visits with the women there. Above all, she was deeply moved by the unbelievably strong will to survive shown by the women in daily life, and by the unsuspected artistic potential they possess. Despite dramatic war experiences and a very strict traditional culture, plus a minimum of information from the free world, these women are capable of embroidering freely (using no prefabricated patterns) with great joy and enthusiasm. These works are sometimes artbrut, sometimes naive art. They are nothing less than works of art, which appeal to and deeply move our European souls. In addition to presenting results from the successful embroidery project, this book includes »answers« by the European women who used the embroidered squares in their works, and so in this unusual way have taken up communication with the women of Afghanistan. At a time when practically daily, and that for many years, almost only bad news from Afghanistan reaches the western world, the author is pleased to report on positive developments. The vigorous and colorful embroidered pieces by the Afghan women deliver proof of the true strength, freedom and creativity possessed by the women of this oppressed land.
About the Author
Pascale Goldenberg, born 1960 in Paris, has a degree in Geology and is living in Freiburg. In 1989 she became a freelance artist and a director of workshops in adult education within the field of textile design. Since 1996 she has had several individual exhibitions every year in Germany and France, she has also participated in numerous competitions and exhibitions in Europe, the US and Japan. Pascale also organized numerous textile events, among others: »Textile Cultural Weeks« in Freiburg (1996), EU Travel Exhibition »Threads Unite Women« from 2008 to 2010, EU Travel Exhibition »Afghanistan–Inspiration« from 2010 to 2012, EU Travel Exhibition »Forest for Ever« from 2014 to 2016, and »Gardens Around the World« from 2016 to 2018. In the year 2000 she got admitted to the Federal Association of Visual Artists (BBK Süd-Baden). Since 2005 she is an artistic consultant for a social and art project in Afghanistan (Deutsch-Afghanische Initiative e.V., Freiburg). Pascale is also author of numerous articles in the German and French textile trade press. »Gardens Around the World« is her second gallery book after »Fäden verbinden / threads unite« published in MaroVerlag.
