Friday, 29 March 2024

Textile Details

'Los precios están en las nubes / Prices are sky high' by LCC, Mujeres Creativas workshop. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)
'Los precios están en las nubes / Prices are sky high' by LCC, Mujeres Creativas workshop. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

 

Title of Textile:Los precios están por las nubes / Prices are sky high
Maker: LCC, Mujeres Creativas workshop
Country of Origin: Peru
Year Produced: 2008
Size (cm): 58cm (w) x 50cm (l)
Materials: Scraps of material handsewn onto burlap
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

Returning to issues of poverty, this arpillera, a replica of the 1985 original made in a Mujeres Creativas workshop, illustrates the Spanish saying: "Los precios están por los nubes", literally meaning "the prices are in the clouds", or "prices are sky high".

In its colourful depiction of economic woe, we see queues of women, with angry, frustrated expressions, waiting for their ticket at the shops and holding empty bags. Those who get a turn at shopping buy only meagre amounts, as illustrated by the small bags that do not bulge with purchases.

In the skies above, we see the basic commodities of flour, sugar, rice, corn and oil, the prices of which are out of reach for these women. As always, it is the poor who endure the consequences of state policies, actions and inactions regarding development and poverty.

Living standards for Peruvian people, as depicted in this arpillera, were extremely difficult in the late 1980s due to an unmanageable foreign debt and high inflation. The economic policies of successive government administrations under Belaunde, Garcia and Fujimori did nothing to improve distribution of wealth for the poor. The war between the government and two insurgent groups, (Shining Path in rural areas and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) in Lima) in addition to a series of natural disasters and a drop in the world price of Peru's major export commodities created a severe economic crisis. Inflation for consumer products increased by 52% from 1981 to 1983, further worsening the already difficult lives of those experiencing the daily grind of poverty.

Owner: Conflict Textiles collection
Location: Quilt photo: The Bill of Rights
Original / Replica: Replica
Photographer: Martin Melaugh
Provenance: Rebecca Dudley, USA/ New Zealand



Textile exhibited at: Arpilleras / Quilts that cry out, challenge and question, 12/11/2008 - 14/11/2008
Arpilleras habitades de memòria, 14/01/2010 - 26/02/2010
Arpilleras: Voices on Tapestries, 8/03/2010 - 31/03/2010
Arpilleras: Embajadoras para el Bicentenario Quilts/Arpilleras: Ambassadors for the B, 14/04/2010 - 20/05/2010
'Arpilleras Aus Chile' -Eine Retrospektive, 6/05/2010 - 28/05/2010
Exhibit of Chilean Arpilleras, 20/05/2010 - 22/05/2010
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 Resistance, 12/10/2010 - 16/01/2011
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
RETAZOS TESTIMONIALES: arpilleras de Chile y otras latitudes, 28/09/2013 - 10/11/2013
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
Enduring Life: Arpillera Voices, 11/05/2016 - 15/07/2016
Arpilleras Speak Truth, 25/09/2017 - 28/10/2017



Textile Detail Image(s)