Saturday, 7 December 2024

Textile Details

'Taller de arpilleras / Arpillera workshop' (replica), by FCH, Mujeres Creativas Workshop. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)
'Taller de arpilleras / Arpillera workshop' (replica), by FCH, Mujeres Creativas Workshop. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

 

Title of Textile:Nuestro Taller de Arpilleras / Our Arpilleras Workshop
Maker: FCH, Mujeres Creativas Workshop
Country of Origin: Peru
Year Produced: 2008
Size (cm): 50cm (l) x 40cm (w)
Materials: Scraps of material hand sewn onto burlap
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

This arpillera, a replica of the original circa 1985 piece by FCH, was made by the Mujeres Creativas workshop in Lima. This group supports women who have been displaced as a result of the war in Peru. The image of untidy industriousness depicts a world of creativity that provides a shelter from the chaos of war for the women involved. In the tumultuous world they have inhabited, the routine, the camaraderie and the sense of ownership of the workshop, allows these women a route to a kind of peace.

At present, many of the women who participated in this workshop over the years are elderly and can not make a living from their work. As the state has not provided reparations and minimal health care for their war affected and poor people, it is through Movimiento Manuela Ramos and the generosity of German Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and churches that they get their basic needs met.

The process of depicting women's stories through arpilleras has taken place far beyond Chile. In 2009, Breege Doherty, inspired by an arpillera exhibition in Donegal, Ireland, invited Roberta Bacic, to introduce the process to a group of women participating in a women's cross-border/cross-community project. The hands on nature of the workshop allowed women to learn about the experience of trauma and conflict of another culture, whilst tentatively exploring its connection to their own experience, living in a post conflict society - all through the medium of cutting, stitching and conversing.

Owner: Conflict Textiles collection
Location: Conflict Textiles store
Original / Replica: Replica
Photographer: Martin Melaugh
Provenance: Acquisition from Mujeres Creativas by Roberta Bacic (2009). (HM0724)



Textile exhibited at: 'Arpilleras Aus Chile' -Eine Retrospektive, 6/05/2010 - 28/05/2010
The Politics of the Mundane in Chilean and Other Arpilleras, 27/08/2010 - 29/08/2010
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
Transforming threads of resistance, 27/02/2012 - 9/03/2012
Arpilleras Poéticas y recital del poeta chileno Jaime Huenún, 10/11/2012 - 15/12/2012
Arpilleras y cotidianeidad femenina, 5/10/2013 - 7/11/2013
Women 31 , 7/03/2014 - 15/04/2014
Arpilleras: Verhalen over leven / Arpilleras: stories of life and survival, 23/09/2015 - 20/11/2015
ARPILLERAS: verhalen over leven / ARPILLERAS: stories of life and survival, 16/01/2016 - 24/02/2016
TRAVELLING TAPESTRIES: STORIES OF THE CHILEAN ARPILLERAS, 10/03/2016 - 11/03/2016
Enduring Life: Arpillera Voices, 11/05/2016 - 15/07/2016
Conflict Textiles collection: McClay Library, Queen's University, Belfast, 24/03/2021 - 1/06/2023



Textile Detail Image(s)