Textile Details

'Arpilleristas y cartoneros/ Arpillerista women and cardboard collectors', Anonymous. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

This arpillera, upbeat and hopeful against the backdrop of poverty and political repression, depicts scenes from everyday life in a Santiago “población” (poor area). Industrious arpilleristas are at work, streets are being swept and neighbours chat at their doors. The cartoneros (people who collect cardboard to sell) struggling up the hill with their trailers full remind us of the harsh poverty of the area, a poverty heightened by the policies of the Pinochet dictatorship.

In the midst of this, these women in their myriad of roles, ever resilient, not only found a way to survive but as arpilleristas found a way to narrate their stories to a global audience. Through this arpillera we journey into the work space of these women, absorbed in the process of creating their collective arpillera, ensuring that their experiences are known in the outside world.

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