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'Aquí se tortura / Here they torture', Anonymous. (Martin Melaugh)

In this arpillera the absence of sun and bleak mountains evokes a dark dark and sombre atmosphere, perhaps a reflection of the topic.

The maker of this arpillera is depicting her personal experience of torture. In the yellow room, she is being tortured on the table. Significantly, she portrays herself on her own, as she does not think she can speak for other women's experiences. She represents her very personal and painful experience, which she wants others to know about. She uses silk, unusual in arpilleras, probably to contrast with the harshness of the experience and turn it into something more bearable to recall. The blue cars are those of the Chilean secret police.

Also significant in this piece is the fact that the torturers and the person guarding the door are all women. There were a proliferation of torture centres in Chile during the dictatorship; up to 1200. (Memoria-viva) Centres of Detention and Torture: Chile 1973-1990. Some were gender specific while others were mixed. This work indicates that the maker was being held at a torture centre for women only.

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