Girls carrying water

I have been drawn further into the needs of children in 3rd world countries following a more research when I was doing the "Menina de Favela e Água" work. Which I then followed up with the piece"Working for Her Daily Bread " with the Nigerian girl.
So, I thought this theme would be a good one to visit for the SAQA 25th Anniversary Trunk Show. The Trunk show works like the Suitcase Collection which will travel to various groups in the UK. A very good audience for raising awareness on issues.

So, I have been working on a piece for the trunk show. The size was to be 7in x 10in. And in this photo I have made a start. I decided to do a piece with some little Afghan girls carrying water. Last year Meike Laurenson came and talked to us about a programme about helping women to have a way of earning money by embroidering. One thing she said stuck with me. It was about the fact that the land is no longer fertile after centuries of wars in that area. This means it is quite desert like. One of the images that stuck with me was several little girls in brightly coloured clothing carrying water. So, that became my inspiration.

Here is where I started. Cutting the shapes of the girls in felt.

and then developing the girls by cutting and fusing the clothing piece by piece onto the felt like a jigsaw.