Bengali Brides

By Louise Kosinska

About the pillowcases

Working with a group of Bengali women in Whitechapel and discussing their dreams and anticipations about coming to England, particularly those arriving here as brides, is the inspiration. By incorporating some of their words onto one pillowcase, writing them onto fabric which is tacked on ready to be sewn, using material from their own coloured garments, signifies the pinning on of their hopes. The second pillowcase is half covered in a red and gold wedding sari. It is a midnight celebration, a time usually associated with sleep and dreams, signifying the transition from one place to another, and of one life to another.

About Louise Kosinska

Louise Kosinska has a BA Fine Art degree from Portsmouth Polytechnic, and a Postgraduate Diploma from Central School Art and Design. Her artwork is concerned with journeys, with its points of entry and departure. Louise is influenced by cinematic images from films such as Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders, and A Matter of Life and Death by Powell & Pressburger, where colour and the lack of it symbolise two separate worlds. She is drawn to opposites and images with two halves, often fairy tales that give a sense of otherness and those which mystify mundane objects, investing them with obscure meaning and mythology. She has exhibited extensively throughout the UK and Poland.