Thursday, 21 November 2024

Textile Details

'Libertad a nuestros hermanos Mapuche / Freedom to our Mapuche brothers', by Aurora Ortiz. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)
'Libertad a nuestros hermanos Mapuche / Freedom to our Mapuche brothers', by Aurora Ortiz. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

 

Title of Textile:Libertad a nuestros hermanos Mapuche / Freedom to our Mapuche brothers
Maker: Aurora Ortiz
Country of Origin: Chile
Year Produced: 2011
Size (cm): 49cm x 41cm
Materials: Scraps of material hand sewn onto burlap
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

The scene for this arpillera, third in a series of four, is also set in the south of Chile. We see Mapuche women carrying a banner that reads, "Freedom to our Mapuche Brothers." Demonstrations of this kind, expressing solidarity, took place in and around the communities affected by the imprisonment of their community members. Similar to the preceding arpillera, strong symbols of their cultural identity are depicted; we see the national climbing flower called copihue (co-pee-way / Mapudungun kopiwe) or Chilean bellflower. This has been adopted as the national flower of Chile and it grows in the forests of the south of the country and blooms in the late summer, early autumn.

Jaime Huenún, a Mapuche poet, who compiled and edited the book Lof Sitiado (Besieged group of families living in a determined piece of land), (Chile, LOM Ediciones, July 2011) comments on the solidarity extended to these Mapuche political prisoners from far beyond Chile: "This book is a testimony and offers its readers the genuine literary solidarity of the 105 authors of Chile, Latin America and Spain who were moved and reacted poetically in connection to the long hunger strike that 34 Mapuche political prisoners started on the 12th of July 2010."

Roberta Bacic adds: "I also extend solidarity through the textile language of these arpillera, as they too have been born from hard and painful experiences of human rights violations."

Owner: Conflict Textiles collection
Location: Conflict Textiles store
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Martin Melaugh
Provenance: Donation from the artist (HM0724)



Textile exhibited at: Transforming threads of resistance, 27/02/2012 - 9/03/2012
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
Arpillera Journeys, 6/03/2015 - 12/06/2015
Rebelles exhibiton, as part of the FITE 2016 , 21/06/2016 - 31/12/2016
Conflict Textiles workshops, 9/01/2019 - 29/01/2019
Retrospective, back to the future 1989-2019-2030/RÜCK BLICK NACH VORNE 1989-2019-2030, 4/05/2019 - 31/10/2019
Poesie des Nähens / The Poetry of Stitching, 17/01/2020 - 8/03/2020
Arpilleras Poéticas, 7/12/2023 - 12/02/2024
Diásporas textiles: Diálogos con la Colección, 12/02/2024 - 17/03/2024



Textile Detail Image(s)