Textile Details

'Landmines/Campos Minados', by Linda Adams. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

Arpillerista Linda Adams created this arpillera “as a response to the fact that even after a war is over the landmines stay and continue to kill.” Antipersonnel landmines, can lie dormant for years until their detonating mechanism is accidently triggered. Designed to maim rather than kill, they cause horrific injuries resulting in amputations, long hospital stays and extensive rehabilitation. International Campaign to Ban Landmines

In this piece, Linda depicts a woman tending her crops, a routine task which has become highly dangerous as we can see from the sign: “Danger-Land Mines.” In the corner we see a child absorbed in play, bent over colourful objects, about to pick them up. These are “butterfly” mines, a type used during the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan. Exploiting the natural, playful curiosity of children in this manner is particularly disturbing for Linda, who remarks that: “children need to explore and play without risking injury and often death from a conflict which finished some time ago.”

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