Textile Details

'No a las alzas - No a la dictadura - Basta de hambre / No to inflation - No to dictatorship - Enough of hunger', Anonymous. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

This arpillera depicts women from a poor neighbourhood protesting at inflation, dictatorship, and their continuous hunger as a result of both. With so many men “disappeared,” in the early years of the Pinochet dictatorship, these women, acting in solidarity, have taken to the streets. Their colourful dresses fulfil conventional perceptions of femininity whilst their public actions defy such traditional roles.

Initially the military ignored arpilleras as insignificant tapestries created by poor, voiceless, women, from the margins of society. And so, women continued to clandestinely stitch stories of loss, repression, human rights abuses, protest and denouncement in these arpilleras. They did so at great risk, knowing that they faced severe penalties if these condemnatory arpilleras were discovered by the authorities. With the help of church networks, they were sold outside of Chile, alerting the international community to the horrors going on within the country and providing a much needed income for these women living in poverty.

Textile Detail Image(s)