“La Trilla”, created over 50 years ago by Las Bordadoras de Isla Negra (the Embroiderers of Isla Negra), is the oldest Chilean textile piece in Conflict Textiles collection. Around 1966, Isla Negra women were encouraged by Leonor Sobrino, a long standing summer visitor to the area, to use embroidery to depict scenes of their everyday rural lives. In 1970, their work was exhibited for the first time in the National Museum of Modern Art in Chile.
Conflict Textiles curator Roberta Bacic describes “La Trilla” as: “a key piece which shows the origins of arpilleras that are at the heart of Conflict Textiles collection”. It is also deeply significant to her family: “This embroidery is a family heirloom which I had seen on display as a child. At the time the collection started to build up, and my aunt had passed away, my cousins Andrés and Miguel Stutzin Schotlländer, agreed to pass it on to Conflict Textiles.”
As the new custodian of “La Trilla” Roberta ensured that it underwent “intensive conservation by conservator Catherine McClinntock, by recommendation of Valerie Wilson, curator of textiles at National Museums Northern Ireland”, leaving it ready for display.
The tradition of Las Bordadoras de Isla Negra, which influenced the early arpileristas, was outlined by Roberta at a public lecture Arpilleras: Evolution and Revolution connected to the exhibition Arpilleras in Contested Spaces, as part of the Third International Visual Methods Conference (IVMC3), Wellington, New Zealand, 2013.
Further background information on Las Bordadoras de Isla Negra, including a video with footage of the era "Visiones del Litoral – Bordadoras de Isla Negra" highlights the work of these women. Zoraida Romo | Comunicación & Teatro (2014) "Las bordadoras chilenas de Isla Negra"
In 2013, Chilean design student, Sofía Hott developed a project with local women Las Bordadoras de Isla Negra which illustrates the work of the original embroiderers in the 1960s, revives the embroidery tradition and enables current project members to earn an income from their work.
Clearly, the work of Las Bordadoras de Isla Negra - epitomised in “La Trilla” - which inspired the early arpilleristas in 1970s Chile, is influencing and inspiring a new generation.
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