'I want to live in freedom': Messages written on handkerchiefs offer glimpse into Afghan women's hopes

Embroidered handkerchiefs, created as part of an artistic exchange between Afghan and Australian women, have been added to the Australian War Memorial’s national collection to represent the lives of women at war.

In 2018, 20 Australian artists joined forces for the Handkerchief Project to sew symbols and words from their living environments on to handkerchiefs that were then sent to a vocational centre in Kabul, Afghanistan.

There, women learning trades and literacy were encouraged to sew their responses on them.

The project took place before the Taliban took control of the country again in August 2021.

Funded by the Australian charity, Support Association for Women in Afghanistan (SAWA), the project was also coordinated by the Organisation of Promoting Afghan Women's Capabilities (OPAWC) which was running vocational and literacy classes in Kabul.

The 2018 Handkerchief Project was an extension of a 2009 project that saw the women exchange works and messages on paper. Credit: Supplied/Gali Weiss

“I hope that no more Afghan mothers shed tears over the loss of their children,” one of the Afghan women embroidered on a handkerchief that was then returned to Australia.

“I want to live in freedom forever,” sewed another woman while others shared their desires for a peaceful future where they could freely attend schools and universities.

Handkerchief on the left reads: "I wish we have peace in our homeland" while the one on the right says: "I want peace". Credit: Supplied/Australian War Memorial

“If we look at all the wishes that these women have made, they are the most basic rights that a human being should have,” said Mursal Rahimi, now living in Australia and one-time head of the Kabul vocational centre that helped create these artworks.

“But, unfortunately, the women of our country are so deprived that they have to wish for them.”

Shekofa (right) says: "I want to become a lawyer in the future and defend the women's rights", while Fatana says: "I want to become a journalist in the future". Credit: Supplied/Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial acquired the artworks after it was approached by Australian artist and the project’s founder, Gali Weiss.

“Initially, I applied to the National Art Gallery because I viewed them as artworks that needed to be seen nationally, that we needed to have a national audience for them… but the National Gallery of Australia wasn’t acquiring at the time and directed me to the Australian War Memorial,” she said.

“The curators [at the Memorial] really, with a lot of respect, appreciated that as a collection. It was quite a unique way of hearing the voices of women in Afghanistan during times of war.”

"I want to be a successful doctor in the future," this woman sewed. Credit: Supplied/Mursal Rahimi

Ms Weiss said the 2018 Handkerchief Project was an extension of a previous project that she started in 2009, exchanging works and messages on paper to connect with the women in Afghanistan and also support them and give them “…the feeling that they’re not alone”.

“They responded with embroideries on the handkerchiefs, around our images, over our images, but also words of hope and wishes,” she said.

Apart from being easy to transport, the handkerchiefs were chosen because of their “long heritage” and the history they carried among the women of Afghanistan, she said.

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“We don’t use them, but handkerchiefs have a history of emotion, and you know, sadness and happiness as well, and they’ve got a long heritage,” Ms Weiss said.

“And then, we learned that handkerchiefs had a history in Afghanistan as well, that many women embroider handkerchiefs as gifts for loved ones… so that made it even more profound.”

The works are now being added to the Memorial’s national collection to represent the suffering and lives of women in war-torn countries such as Afghanistan.

The handkerchiefs have been added to the Australian War Memorial’s national collection. Source: AAP

“These universal messages of hope, the pain of war, and the resilience of women are a treasured addition to the Australian War Memorial,” the Memorial’s director, Matt Anderson, said.

“The collection has found the right home to share this important message with Australia: messages of connection and friendship, but most importantly, solidarity between two cultures.”

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The unveiling of the collection coincides with an announcement by Afghanistan’s de facto Taliban rulers that that women and girls would not be allowed to attend university classes.

According to Al-Jazeera, the country’s Taliban-run higher education ministry confirmed on Tuesday that it had ordered both public and private universities to immediately prevent female students from entering classes.

Ms Rahimi, who fled the country after the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, said it was “painful” to see Afghan women striped of yet another basic human right.

Mursal Rahimi fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in August 2021 Credit: Supplied/Mursal Rahimi

She said the move came as surprise to her as the fundamentalist group had recently allowed female students to take part in the country’s national university entrance exam.

“I think the Taliban is not a group that one can predict. These are not the people who can lead or build a country,” she said.

“They are an ignorant group that has no understanding of education. Their leaders have only read a few religious books and I am sure that those in their ranks have not even read their own religious books properly and do not understand them.”

Ms Weiss, who is currently in contact with a number of women in Afghanistan, supporting them through their university studies, described the ban as “heartbreaking”.