Could you sum up how much you love your family in a single tweet? 

Now imagine having just 66 characters – including spaces – to express a lifetime of love, grief, and remembrance. That was the limit given to families of Australian soldiers lost in World War I for the epitaphs on their headstones. 

This restriction struck a deep chord with Queensland-based embroidery artist and veteran Sacha de Wit. 

A former naval officer and founder of Draw Stitch Smile, Sacha has been creating embroidery-based artwork since 2020. 

This year, she is unveiling her first major work, The Unknown Widow, at the Festival of Veterans Arts (FOVA), from March 21 to 30 in Melbourne’s Southbank Arts Precinct. 

At last year’s festival during a walk on the Veterans Public Arts Trail, Sacha learned about the 66-character limit and was stunned. 

“I had no idea that families were given so little space to express their grief – if they were given it at all,” she said. 

“Eighteen-thousand families were denied even that, including the family of the soldier now resting in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial.” 

This discovery led to The Unknown Widow, an immersive exhibition using textiles, embroidery, woodwork, and music to explore the experiences of those left behind in war. 

Visitors to the exhibition will encounter a life-sized washing line strung with handkerchiefs, each bearing an original epitaph hand-stitched onto the fabric. They are encouraged to pick up the handkerchiefs, read the words, and then fold and transfer them to a basket – a symbolic gesture of remembrance. 

The installation accompanies a soundtrack from fellow naval veteran and musician Kirshy McAinch, creating a deeply reflective atmosphere. 

A final interactive element invites visitors to attempt writing their own epitaph on stamped cards, mirroring those on the handkerchiefs. Could you capture love, loss, and memory in just 66 characters? 

“I chose the handkerchief because it was something every household would have had. I imagined the emotions of a grieving family member wringing it in their hands or crying into it at night when the day’s chores were done,” Sacha said. “An everyday item carrying the weight of lost dreams and broken hearts.”

She describes the process of creating the work as unexpectedly emotional. 

“At first, I was stressed about choosing just 66 epitaphs. Then, when I reached the final stitch, I felt guilt – guilt that it was only 66, and what about all the others? In that moment, I understood the widows’ struggle in a way I never had before.”

You can experience The Unknown Widow and engage with this powerful installation as part of the annual March to Art exhibition during and beyond FOVA25, from March 21 to April 24 at the Australian National Veteran Arts Museum, 312 St Kilda Rd.

FOVA25 also features art exhibitions, workshops, live performances, and the FOVA Family Colour Parade, hosted across some of Melbourne’s most renowned venues in the Arts Precinct. 

For more information and the full program, visit fova.org.au, and learn more about ANVAM at anvam.org.au. •