Thursday, 28 March 2024

Event Details

A section of the

A section of the "Stitching Memoryscape" exhibition on display in Kyoto, Japan. (Photos: "Stitching Memoryscape" Committee archive)

 

Exhibition and associated activities:Stitching Memoryscape 「記憶風景を縫う」
Description: This exhibition incorporates Chilean arpilleras from the 1970s – 1990s; present day arpilleras and textiles, from Chile and elsewhere, which take their influence from the arpillera tradition; and pieces focused on the 2011 disaster in Tōhoku, Japan. Overall, the exhibition, on display in Tokoyo from 30th May - 12th June 2017, (having been exhibited in Sendai from 30th May - 12th June), attempts to approach textile art about historical experiences through the keyword of memoryscape.

Memoryscape in this exhibition means images that lie deep in our minds, which can be a landscape of hometown or a scene from a life-changing event. Scenes from different times in history can be integrated in a memoryscape as they reflect instances that one has lived through. This exhibition looks at the aspect of Chilean arpilleras as renditions of memoryscape. In their denouncement of the Pinochet dictatorship they depict scenes that are important in Chilean social memory. Complex emotions towards home are also stitched: memories of hardship and suffering, as well as memories of community ties and a sense of belonging, can be seen in the everyday landscape of poblacion (neighbourhood).

The arpilleras’ portrayal of multi-layered and often conflicting sentiments rooted in a particular social place has a universal appeal, which resonates too with social experiences of people who have lived in the areas affected by the tsunami and nuclear threat.

The Chilean arpilleras are drawn from the international Conflict Textiles collection and from the collection of Oshima Hakko Museum, Japan.

For the arpillera collection of Oshima Hakko Museum, see:
Arpillera: Chilean appliques that narrate in silence (2015)
Meeting Chilean Arpilleras (2013)
Curatorial Visit to Oshima Hakko Museum (2013)

This exhibition, which will be complemented by associated activities such as guided tours and workshops, is:
- Organised by "Stitching Memoryscape" Committee (Naoki Miyamoto, Ayako Osanai, Tomoko Sakai and Soichi Takahashi); The Institute for the Promotion Regional Co-existence, Tohoku Gakuin University; Survivart
- Cooperated by: Oshima Hakko Museum; Faculty of Global and Regional Studies, Doshisha University.

An electronic version of the exhibition catalogue is unavailable.

Commissioned by: Stitching Memoryscape Committee
Date(s): 1st July 2017 - 9th July 2017
Venue: Kambaikan Gallery (B1F), Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan
Muromachi Campus, Doshisha University, Karasuma-higashi-iru, Imadegawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto-shi 602-8580, JAPAN
Curator: Roberta Bacic assisted by Breege Doherty; "Stitching Memoryscape" Committee
Facilitator: Yoon Hae Young (Doshisha University); Tomoko Sakai (Tohoku Gakuin University)
Outcome: With some guided tours given by members of "Stitching Memoryscape" committee, the exhibition attempts to make the art of arpillera known in the Kansai region in Japan, and to increase public awareness on peoples’ lives in Tohoku region after the tsunami & nuclear disaster in 2011. A total of 439 people viewed the exhibition.




Documents: • List of arpilleras - Oshima Hakko collection - view
• Stitching Memoryscape flyer (3 exhibitions) - view
• Textile list - Conflict Textiles collection - view