Gloria Giraldo learnt to embroider at Cookham Wood prison in Kent, a long way from her native Colombia. She did crewel embroidery in fine wools and silks, working for two years from macroscopic photos of a valuable tablecloth which was sewn in France, 150 years ago.
Many women in the prison contributed figures to the tablecloth. They embroidered the lions, cats, deers and dogs in their cells, on linen stretched over hand-held frames. The figures were then applied by Gloria to the tablecloth itself. Most of the women were Columbian. Many of them, like Gloria, hardly spoke English. They learnt to do the work because Gloria taught them.
Before she left prison, Gloria wrote to us saying,
It was wonderful to do all that work. I am feeling very sad to leave you but that is life. I love this kind of work and I think when you do something with love it is better in the end. At this moment I am dreaming of embroidery.
Gloria is now back in Colombia, where unemployment is phenomenally high and she no longer has her own home. However, Gloria is still stitching for Fine Cell Work. She has even managed to teach Miriam, another Colombian ex-offender who served her sentence in England, to do this work.
Gloria now has two commissions for embroidered tablecloths, worth £7,800. Several other Colombian women who did time in England are also planning to visit Gloria when they return. Some of them will be bringing her packets of thread from England.
