Quilting Hope: Exploring Participatory Design for Emotional Repair, Restoration, and Resistance with Rafooghar

Stitching can be a transformative tool for participatory design (PD), particularly to build bridges with underrepresented communities who have a cultural connection with the medium. This paper shares the positive role of stitching in the creation of Rafooghar, a collaborative space for repair, restoration and resistance co-designed with marginalized communities in South East Delhi where they come together to design stitched artworks. The situated action, Ummeed Ka Karaavan or Quilt of Hope invites PDC 2024 participants to engage in a taste of Rafooghar and the healing and dreaming potential of stitching as a PD tool. In the interactive session, participants will contribute to co-designing a quilt of healing and hope after a process of emotional mapping, reflection and mark making. The resulting Quilt of Hope will be a tangible representation of collective dreaming, exhibited both physically and digitally.