Thursday, 28 March 2024

Textile Details

'No tenemos acceso a los servicios públicos / We have no access to public services' Anonymous. (Photo: Colin Peck)
'No tenemos acceso a los servicios públicos / We have no access to public services' Anonymous. (Photo: Colin Peck)

 

Title of Textile:No tenemos acceso a los servicios públicos / We have no access to public services
Maker: Anonymous
Country of Origin: Chile
Year Produced: 1984
Size (cm): 45cm (w) x 36cm (l)
Materials: Scraps of material hand sewn onto burlap
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

Through this arpillera, made in a community workshop in Santiago, we journey back to the past and witness the daily hardships faced by this community during the Pinochet regime. The crosses stitched on the doors of public services show that ordinary people do not have access to these facilities. Two signs beside the minister’s desk proclaim: "Minister of Education, betrayal to the fatherland," and “What is this? They refer to former Justice Minister Monica Madariaga, who drafted the 1978 Amnesty Law (Amnesty to the perpetrators) to avoid legal action in the cases of human rights violation from 1973-1978.

Through a Swiss couple this arpillera journeyed to Europe, where it helped to highlight the grimness of life in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship. Today it invites us to connect with marginalised communities in various jurisdictions that, in the face of repressive regimes and times of conflict, are denied basic services.

Owner: Colección del Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Location: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía de Madrid
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Colin Peck
Provenance: Depósito indefinido de la Fundación Museo Reina Sofía, 2023. Adquirido de Conflict Textiles collection (2023). Long term loan Fundación Museo Reina Sofía, 2023. Acquired from Conflict Textiles collection (2023). Provenance Heidi and Peter Gessler, Switzerland.



Textile exhibited at: Arpilleras / Quilts that cry out, challenge and question, 12/11/2008 - 14/11/2008
Chilean Arpilleras: Tapestries of women’s lives and survival, 11/02/2009 - 12/02/2009
The Politics of Chilean Arpilleras II, 2/03/2009 - 31/03/2009
Finding Our Voices -The Power of Arpilleras, 26/09/2009 - 30/10/2009
Arpilleras habitades de memòria, 14/01/2010 - 26/02/2010
'Arpilleras Aus Chile' -Eine Retrospektive, 6/05/2010 - 28/05/2010
Stitching Resistance, 12/10/2010 - 16/01/2011
Arpilleras e resistência política no Chile , 30/07/2011 - 30/10/2011
Arpilleras of Chilean political resistance , 22/03/2012 - 5/06/2012
RETAZOS TESTIMONIALES: arpilleras de Chile y otras latitudes, 28/09/2013 - 10/11/2013
Arpillera Journeys, 6/03/2015 - 12/06/2015
Embracing Human Rights: Conflict Textiles’ Journey, 9/01/2020 - 31/07/2020



Textile Detail Image(s)