Thursday, 28 March 2024

Textile Details

'Hilvanando la busqueda  / Stitching the search', by Nicole Drouilly. (Photo: Roser Corbera)
'Hilvanando la busqueda / Stitching the search', by Nicole Drouilly. (Photo: Roser Corbera)

 

Title of Textile:Hilvanando la busqueda / Stitching the search
Maker: Nicole Drouilly
Country of Origin: Chile
Year Produced: 2014
Size (cm): 1.90m (w) x 1.60m (h)
Materials: Scraps of material hand sewn onto burlap
Type of Textile: Quilt
Description:

On October 30 1974, 13 months after General Pinochet seized power, social work student Jacqueline Drouilly and her husband, Marcelo Salinas Eytel were abducted from their home in Santiago by the security police. Despite embarking on a painstaking search process, Jacqueline’s family never saw her again, never recovered her remains and never knew the fate of their unborn baby. http://www.memoriaviva.com/English/victims/drouilly.html

In this quilt, Nicole Drouilly shares memories from the life of her older sister. She describes the tumultuous stages of the search beginning with, “the search … for a living person,” gradually realising they would not find Jacqueline alive, and finally, facing the reality of “never see[ing] her again.”

For Nicole, who persists in seeking justice for Jacqueline and Marcelo, this quilt provides solace: “the geometrical designs …give order to chaos…a labyrinth ends in a wall,… mandalas …guide my actions and infinite journeys.”

She commends those who pause to view her quilt. “… I thank them from now and forever the passing minutes they dedicate to observe the quilt and unite to me in thinking about Jacqueline.”

Supporting documentation: Hilvanando la búsqueda / Stitching the search a short film clip of her textile presented virtually by Conflict Textiles to Nicole on 3rd December 2020, as a gift to the Drouilly family to commemorate Jacqueline’s 71st birthday. Textile book made by Nicole to mark her sister’s 71st birthday on 3rd December 2020. Stitching the Search: Interview with Nicole Drouilly 10th December 2020 (1.15min).

Stitching the search: panel texts (English); Stitching the search: panel texts (español)

Owner: Ulster Museum collection
Location: Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Roser Corbera
Provenance: Acquired from Conflict Textiles collection (2022)





Textile Detail Image(s)