Textile Details

'La Cueca Sola / Dancing Cueca Alone', Anonymous. (Photo: Colin Peck)

Made by one of the Association of the Detained and Disappeared workshops, and acquired in Santiago in 1991, this arpillera was probably made sometime in the late 1980s, before the dictatorship ended.

The absence of those who had been disappeared is portrayed poignantly here in the figures of the women dancing the traditional Chilean dance, "la cueca" , without partners. In the place of their loved ones, the women have pinned photos of them to their clothes. Even with these absences the women sing and dance, symbolising their fortitude and hope.

This piece again does not follow the traditional style and takes the scene indoors away from the mountains and sun.

Rosario Caticha y María Cecilia Pérez (2017) El Hilo de la Memoria: una resignificación desde el presente del arte textil de la resistencia de mujeres latinoamericanas víctimas del terrorismo de estado. (p9)

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