Thursday, 28 March 2024

Textile Details

'They burnt our homes', collective work by Killarney girls, facilitated by Shari Eppel, Solidarity Peace Trust Zimbabwe. (Photo: Shari Eppel)
'They burnt our homes', collective work by Killarney girls, facilitated by Shari Eppel, Solidarity Peace Trust Zimbabwe. (Photo: Shari Eppel)

 

Title of Textile:They burnt our homes
Maker: Collective work by Killarney girls, facilitated by Shari Eppel, Solidarity Peace Trust Zimbabwe
Country of Origin: Zimbabwe
Year Produced: 2012
Size (cm): 146cm x 96cm
Materials: Scraps of material hand sewn onto burlap
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

This arpillera, the second in a series of two, graphically portrays the destruction of the Killarney informal settlement in Zimbabwe in May 2005, during Operation Murambatsvina in which the government of Zimbabwe, deploying the army and police, purposefully destroyed housing around the country.

The women who made this arpillera are all from Killarney informal settlement; all lost their homes in 2005. The chilling images accompanied by the simple statements “They burnt our homes” “Trucks collected us” and “our chairs were outside” convey the devastation of this government sanctioned operation, in which an estimated 500,000 people were evicted and displaced in the space of a month.

Owner: Conflict Textiles collection. Provenance Solidarity Peace Trust, Zimbabwe
Location: Solidarity Peace Trust, Zimbabwe
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Shari Eppel
Provenance:



Textile exhibited at: Women 31 , 7/03/2014 - 15/04/2014
Textile Accounts of Conflicts, 17/11/2014 - 18/11/2014
Textile Accounts of Conflicts, 6/02/2015 - 7/03/2015
Arpilleras: Verhalen over leven / Arpilleras: stories of life and survival, 23/09/2015 - 20/11/2015



Textile Detail Image(s)