For Rosalía Rodríguez Hernández, making this arpillera was akin to writing the words of her story and sharing her sorrow with the rest of the group in the Women Sewing History Workshop. It represents the arrest of her mother during the Spanish Civil War when women were imprisoned and tortured for no other reason than being an anarchist's wife.
Rosalía had been beaten by the police who came to drag her mother away and had to watch as they cut off her hair and forced her to drink castor oil. Her saddest memories arose from knowing that her mother had suffered torture and, before her arrest, had had an exhausting struggle to maintain and care for her family. |