Textile Details

'Represión a vendedores ambulantes / Repression of street vendors', Anonymous. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

This arpillera captures the constant oppression which poor people endured on a daily basis. Against the backdrop of apartment blocks, we see street vendors being forced off the streets as the state wants to get rid of them. These apolitical vendors are simply trying to make ends meet.

In the face of the large, hulk shaped, black water cannon, forcefully pumping powerful jets of water, made of tacked white thread, the vendors have no option but to flee. Clutching their newspapers and plastic bags containing their wares they run, attempting to shield themselves and their goods from injury and destruction. The featureless water cannon is depicted as ominous and intimidating. It conveys the faceless brutality of the authorities, unleashed against the harmless, unthreatening street vendors.

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