| Description: | Alicia Villanueva, coordinator of Movimiento Manuela Ramos in Peru gave this arpillera as a gift to curator Roberta Bacic, whom she had met through the arpillera world. Alicia was gifted this piece from Olinda Gutiérrez, a volunteer in the organisation, who created it to represent the dire situation of women in Peru in the 1980s.
The arpillerista felt very oppressed. The facial expression, the tears and the barbed wire enclosure all convey a sense of brokenness and lack of freedom. She wanted to fly like a bird, as represented by the dove. By giving it to Alicia, she enabled it - an extension of herself - to fly to places she would never physically travel to.
Since it was first exhibited in “Cultural Stories in Textiles”, in Northern Ireland, 2010, it has flown to many places. This latest “flight” to Chile represents the wishes of the maker Olinda, stitched on burlap, more than 30 years ago. Olinda died during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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