In this textile Heidi portrays Afghan women’s restricted lives under the Taliban regime, 1996 – 2001. “Their freedom ended at [their courtyard] wall”, no more than 100 steps. Twenty years later, in August 2021, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan. Heidi reflects: “[Women] are once again …. living under the oppression of the Taliban … no peace and no freedom”.
The universality of this arpillera extends beyond Afghanistan.
In the fusion of arpillera and poetry in "ARPILLERAS POÉTICAS" (2023), Conflict Textiles curator Roberta Bacic pairs it with Luis Zaror’s poem; which she translated from its original Spanish for the exhibition Arpilleras Poéticas (2023/2024).
UNTITLED
My wife paints
Palestinian women
in the outskirts of Bethlehem.
I have asked her not to paint their crying
so as not to make pain last forever.
From the book “Windowsill of Memory“
As we read the poem, and return to the arpillera - the image of which emerged clearly to Roberta while reading the poem many times - we are confronted with the pain of shattered lives in Gaza. More than 60,582 people have been wounded and 23,968 people killed since October 7, 2023. (Aljazeera, 14 Jan 2024) | 
