The women who made this arpillera belong to a group of displaced women who had to leave their villages in the Andean mountains. In the section Ayer (yesterday), they stitch memories of life in their villages during the the war between the government and the Maoists of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) in the 1980s. In the section Hoy (today), they depict how they are building a new life in Pamplona Alta, a poor district in the capital of Lima.
As they themselves say: "Yesterday we lost everything and had to leave it all behind us to save our lives. We had to leave our families, houses, animals, land and much more. We lost everything and had to start a new life from scratch."
This arpillera was made by the women's collective Asociación Kuyanakuy. It was first presented to the Peruvian Truth Commission on 1 May 2002. In June, the women brought it back to their headquarters where they held a 24 hour vigil.
In August 2006 this powerful Peruvian arpillera came across the ocean for the first time to Ireland, where it was exhibited at the West Belfast Festival. It then travelled around Ireland and other countries. The effect it had on the people who saw it inspired a series of exhibitions across nine venues in Derry / Londonderry (2008) The Art of Survival: International and Irish Quilts. The aim of this initiative was to bring together international and Irish quilts that would "talk to each other" and portray the way women around the world survive during conflict - often by way of working with cloth and thread.
This textile is part of the exhibition "Wenn das Leid Gestalt annimmt / When the pain takes shape", curated by Gaby Franger and Rainer Huhle.
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