Tuesday, 19 March 2024

Textile Details

'En Chile se tortura / Demonstration against torture', by  Violeta Morales. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)
'En Chile se tortura / Demonstration against torture', by Violeta Morales. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

 

Title of Textile:En Chile se tortura / Demonstration against torture
Maker: Violeta Morales
Country of Origin: Chile
Year Produced: 1988
Size (cm): 48cm (w) x 38cm (l)
Materials: Scraps of material hand sewn onto hessian
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

Here Violeta Morales depicts a demonstration against torture by the group Movement Against Torture Sebastián Acevedo (MCTSA), of which she was co-ordinator.

The anti torture movement came into being in September, 1983, ten years after the regime took power, when around 70 people unfurled a banner which read "Torturing Done Here" in front of the headquarters of the National Civil Police Centre in Santiago.

On November 11 of that same year, Sebastián Acevedo Becerra, in despair following the arrest of his children Galo and María, whom he feared would be tortured by the secret police, publicly set himself alight. Such was the impact of his action on the Movement Against Torture that it henceforth became known as the Movement Against Torture Sebastián Acevedo (MCTSA).

In the Chilean National Commission of Truth and Reconciliation, death as a consequence of political violence was how Sebastián's demise was described. Roberta Bacic (2012), in her paper Stitching together non-violence and "Movement Against Torture Sebastián Acevedo (MCTSA)" notes that his death described thus: "gave a public acknowledgement of the desperate situation people lived during those years and gave his family the right to reparations."

Owner: Oshima Hakko Museum collection, Japan
Location: c/o Brandon Hamber, INCORE, Ulster University, Derry / Londonderry
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Martin Melaugh
Provenance: Violeta Morales. In the care of Conflict Textiles collection.



Textile exhibited at: Arpilleras in contested spaces, 3/09/2013 - 6/09/2013
RETAZOS TESTIMONIALES: arpilleras de Chile y otras latitudes, 28/09/2013 - 10/11/2013
SMALL Actions BIG Movements, 1/07/2014 - 11/07/2014
Sew to Speak – Human Rights, 12/09/2014 - 14/09/2014
Textile Accounts of Conflicts, 17/11/2014 - 18/11/2014
Textile Accounts of Conflicts, 6/02/2015 - 7/03/2015
Arpilleras: Verhalen over leven / Arpilleras: stories of life and survival, 23/09/2015 - 20/11/2015
ARPILLERAS: verhalen over leven / ARPILLERAS: stories of life and survival, 16/01/2016 - 24/02/2016
TRAVELLING TAPESTRIES: STORIES OF THE CHILEAN ARPILLERAS, 10/03/2016 - 11/03/2016
Enduring Life: Arpillera Voices, 11/05/2016 - 15/07/2016
Stitched Legacies of Conflicts , 7/10/2016 - 26/11/2016
Justicia Transicional y Arte-Textil / Transitional Justice and Art-Textile, 24/09/2018 - 18/10/2018
Nonviolence in Action: Antimilitarism in the 21st Century, 24/03/2021 - 31/12/2021
Sewing Resistance to Militarism: Arpilleras and other transnational textiles, 14/11/2021 - 14/11/2021
Threads of Empowerment: Conflict Textiles’ International Journey, 21/06/2024 - 31/03/2025



Textile Detail Image(s)

  Demonstration against torture by the group 'Movement Against Torture Sebastián Acevedo', as depicted in the textile ‘En Chile se tortura / Demonstration against torture’. Violeta Morales is at the front, third from right, (Photo: © Conflict Textiles)