Diana was a politically active student in Bolivia and while visiting family in the UK, she was told there was an arrest warrant out for her back home. She then discovered she was pregnant. Her asylum case took 8 long traumatic years. After that she finally finished her law degree and now works for the NHS and Citizen’s Advice. She sees those years as a learning period, ‘a process of destroying to rebuild’. The words embroidered on the canvas read “I arrived aged 22 in 2008, then discovered I was pregnant.

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I had no idea about giving birth, and was in labour for 3 days. Afterwards we were put on a bus to Leeds. For 2 years I went out once a week. I pretended everything was fine to my parents. G4S came and took me away in handcuffs to deport me. Barnardo’s looked after the baby. There was an injunction but then I had a breakdown. I was found a befriending service through the Refugee Council, it changed my life. I finally got asylum and my law degree.

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On my birthdays I think about how many years I lost. I like the word ‘refugee’. Now I am a problem solver, more community orientated. Home is wherever my daughter is, she is my little Bolivia.” Oil and hand embroidery on linen canvas.

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(DIANA, Bolivia, arr. 2009)

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