The bride

This image (Figure 7.1) narrates the journey of my mother coming to this country and the loneliness she and others, some of whom were child brides, endured. The picture is divided in two, reflecting different emotional and lived experiences of women at that time, the migrant experience of loss of home and place.

The colour represents the vibrant sunshine and light they left behind, the freedom of the rural land, the familiar informality of friends and family to come to our new home: a cold, dismal place, where it snowed or rained a lot, the unfamiliar industrial fumes, the darkened sky. Being stuck in a two-up, two-down terraced house all day brought on a feeling never before known to many, of claustrophobia often teamed with the isolation of not knowing anyone. Any communication now was of a formal nature, with a doctor, a midwife, a teacher, along with the language and culture, which were both a mystery.

Due to the almost forced transition, as many women did not have a say in becoming a migrant, women yearned for their homeland, and held on dearly to their now even more treasured memories. This is depicted not just in the physical journey from the colour rainbow of vibrant life cultures and the finding of coal instead of gold at the end of the rainbow, but also signals the emotional attachment many women had with their homeland and the significance of their memories. These memories were the emotional bridge to the home they left behind.