When I first saw Prashant walking down the hall of the UrbanSpace building at 401 Richmond Street West, he was slowly unwrapping himself from a bundled shawl against the cold of the last days of Canadian winter. Underneath he was wearing a brightly stitched long vest. Every seam and detail embroidered in bright primary colours. My mind connected to Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man" but this was the "Stitched Man", I was seeing.
Why?
It was a legacy of Prash's work with two of WLC's sewing projects--projects that combine literacy education with teaching women sewing skills useful for cottage industry endeavours. Prash has been helping the women in the projects create some new designs for placemats and other goods that WLC will help sell in Canada at fair value to sustain their project.
While working in the project, not only did Prash's wardrobe become progressively more covered in bright embroidery but he also took time to bedeck the walls of the sewing project with some whimsical murals depicting the beehive of activity within.
