Thursday, 28 March 2024

Textile Details

'Mi Guernica / My Gernika' by Edurne Mestraitua. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)
'Mi Guernica / My Gernika' by Edurne Mestraitua. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

 

Title of Textile:Mi Guernica / My Gernika
Maker: Edurne Mestraitua
Country of Origin: Basque Country
Year Produced: 2017
Size (cm): 75cm (w) x 48cm (l)
Materials: Scraps of material hand sewn onto burlap
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

In the late afternoon of a busy market day in Gernika on 26th April 1937, the German air force in league with General Franco, bombed Gernika. The town was reduced to a smouldering ruin and over 1650 people were killed.

Edurne’s family was deeply affected by this devastating event. Over 80 years later she has narrated her memories in “Mi Guernica”, through workshops facilitated by Idoia Orbe, as part of the exhibition, “COSIENDO PAZ: Conflicto, Arpilleras, Memoria / STITCHING PEACE: Conflict, Arpilleras, Memory”. In her textile interpretation of Picasso’s Gernika, she uses a pillowcase, which is a precious family heirloom, as backing.

She recalls: “My mother as a child lived the terrible bombardment herself, and … repeated this story again and again. Though my father lived it too, he never spoke about [it]”.

Owner: Edurne Mestraitua
Location: Gernika
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Martin Melaugh
Provenance:





Textile Detail Image(s)

  'Mi Guernica / My Gernika' by Edurne Mestraitua. (Photo-detail 1: Martin Melaugh)  'Mi Guernica / My Gernika' by Edurne Mestraitua. (Photo-detail 2: Martin Melaugh)  'Mi Guernica / My Gernika' by Edurne Mestraitua. (Photo-detail 2: Martin Melaugh)  'Mi Guernica / My Gernika' by Edurne Mestraitua. (Photo-reverse side detail: Martin Melaugh)