Martine Molet-Bastien
„Volubilis“
Embroiderer Golgotai

On my first visit to Laghmani in spring 2005, I showed the embroiderers pictures of squares, beautifully stitched in Kandahar embroidery, to find out who had made them. The women told me that they were made by Golgotai. The next day Golgotai came and I asked her whether she was going to do any more. She said, ‘My mother died a short time ago, and now I can’t embroider anymore.’ I expressed my condolences but still gave her some red thread and fabrics and told her: ‘If you feel like starting again any time, you will have some materials to use; but you can take your time, or never use it.’ The next time I saw her she had embroidered the piece of cloth after all and used up all of the red thread. The embroidery was very uneven: some of the squares were magnificent, others done in a hesitant way, as if done by a beginner. Martine Mole, who has a preference for red, received six squares done by Golgotai. – P.G