From vulnerability to resilience: women artisans in Jammu and Kashmir crafting a new story
Project: Culture and Conflict
The wood-panelled room on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar is abuzz with Kashmiri women artisans sitting around the only heater. They are discussing creative designs, colour combinations, patterns, fabrics and mediums – terminology they have never used before.
“If only this opportunity had come to us 30 years ago, our lives would have been different”, says Basanti, a 60-year-old Kashmiri Pandit living in a refugee settlement on the outskirts of Jammu.
In 1990, Basanti lost her younger brother to the rising insurgency in Kashmir. He was killed by terrorists in his village. Since then, she has lived in exile outside the Valley. Now, she is excited by the prospect of going back ‘home’ as part of a local peacebuilding project.
Image credit: Ashima Kaul
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