Thursday, 28 March 2024

Textile Details

'Vamos a la playa en micro / Let's go to the beach by bus' Anonymous. (Photo: Roser Corbera)
'Vamos a la playa en micro / Let's go to the beach by bus' Anonymous. (Photo: Roser Corbera)

 

Title of Textile:Vamos a la playa en micro / Let's go to the beach by bus
Maker: Anonymous
Country of Origin: Chile
Year Produced: 1977c
Size (cm): 67cm x 62 cm
Materials: Scraps of material hand sewn onto burlap
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

This piece was made in an arpillera workshop, most likely in Santiago, during some of the worst years of the Pinochet dictatorship. The participants - all of whom had family members or relatives who were disappeared - were prompted by the facilitator to draw on and depict memories of a happier time. As the women shaped their pieces, their dominant focus was on remembering and celebrating their disappeared relatives rather than on anger at the human rights abuses perpetrated by the dictatorship. This focus gave them a brief reprieve and strength to cope with the violence of the present era.

The woman who completed this arpillera had two sons who were disappeared. She depicts travelling to the beach along the popular minibus Ovalle Negrete route, the vehicle packed to capacity with passengers and their belongings. For an instant, we, like her, imagine ourselves stretched out on the warm sand, watching the sailing boats glide by and feeling the hot sun in our bones. As she works on the piece, she may forget the harshness of her present life and revisit these beach trips, surrounded by her boys, now disappeared

These affordable day trips to the beach, continued during the Pinochet regime and were also a form of peaceful protest by working class people. It symbolised their hope for a better future.

Owner: Conflict Textiles collection
Location: Conflict Textiles store
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Roser Corbera
Provenance: Arpillera collection, Kinderhilfe, Chile/Bonn



Textile exhibited at: 'Arpilleras Aus Chile' -Eine Retrospektive, 6/05/2010 - 28/05/2010
Chilean Arpilleras of Yesterday and Today: Textile Ambassadors, 16/09/2010 - 16/09/2010
Stitching Peace: An exhibition of Arpilleras and Quilts, 16/02/2011 - 18/03/2011
Stitching Peace: An exhibition of arpilleras and quilts, 17/05/2011 - 25/05/2011
Arpilleras: Community Action and Empowerment through Narrative Textile Art, 6/03/2012 - 6/04/2012
Arpilleras Poéticas y recital del poeta chileno Jaime Huenún, 10/11/2012 - 15/12/2012
Chilean Arpilleras, 29/06/2016 - 29/06/2016
Arpillera Voices and Echoes , 6/10/2016 - 14/11/2016
Arpilleras viajeras: Chilenas y de otras latitudes, 16/11/2016 - 12/12/2016
Art and Human Rights Network Day , 20/06/2017 - 20/06/2017
Textile Language of Conflicts, 6/11/2017 - 10/11/2017
Huellas: puntadas y caminares de la memoria / Footprints: memory stitches and steps , 29/09/2018 - 4/11/2018
Conflict, Peace: Our journey, our future, 14/09/2020 - 31/10/2020
#DerechosdelNiño / #DretsdelsInfants / #ChildrensRights, 10/11/2020 - 29/01/2021
#ChildrensRights / #DerechosdelNiño / #DretsdelsInfants , 15/03/2021 - 6/06/2021
The Troubles and Beyond, 28/06/2022 - 8/02/2023
International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2022, 30/08/2022 - 30/08/2022
Arpilleras Poéticas, 7/12/2023 - 12/02/2024
Archivos Textiles: memorias que persisten, 12/02/2024 - 17/03/2024



Textile Detail Image(s)