Friday, 29 March 2024

Textile Details

'Represión a los Mapuche / Repression of the Mapuche',by Pamela Luque. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)
'Represión a los Mapuche / Repression of the Mapuche',by Pamela Luque. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

 

Title of Textile:Represión a los Mapuche / Repression of the Mapuche
Maker: Pamela Luque
Country of Origin: Chile / Ireland
Year Produced: 2015
Size (cm): 51cm x 46cm
Materials: Scraps of material sewn onto burlap
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

The Mapuche indigenous people in the Araucanía region of Southern Chile have endured colonisation for well over 500 years, first at the hands of the Spanish settlers and later by the Chilean state. Land struggles and demanding restitution of their former lands is an ongoing issue for the indigenous Mapuche. For them, living without land is in itself a denial of their identity, as Mapuche means People of the Land.

Chilean Pamela Luque, living in Ireland for 20 years, was moved to create this arpillera depicting the oppression of the Mapuche in her native Chile, after viewing a video clip of the aftermath of a Mapuche demonstration in 2012. Here we see the police entering the home of Guillermina Painevilu and her daughter Susanna Guzman, who were onlookers at the demonstration. In the presence of Susanna’s children the police strike the Grandmother and forcibly remove her daughter.

For Pamela, this event represents: “how the Mapuche, particularly women are oppressed and targeted by the police…[who] have the power and feel they can do what they want.”

In the background we see hills dotted with the ancient Arucaria (monkey puzzle) trees, above which the words of a Mapuche poem are inscribed, illustrating the deep Mapuche connection to the land: “Don’t imprison me...let my rivers flow...let the blossoming freedom return.”

Owner: Conflict Textiles collection
Location: Conflict Textiles store
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Martin Melaugh
Provenance: Conflict Textiles



Textile exhibited at: Arpilleras Dialogantes / Arpillera Conversations, 28/05/2015 - 28/05/2015
Overcoming, Remembering: The Politics of Sewing, 8/06/2015 - 12/06/2015
Arpilleras Bordando à Resistência / Arpilleras Embroidering Resistance, 25/09/2015 - 25/10/2015
Arpilleras de América Latina: Mujeres cosedoras de vida , 19/03/2016 - 24/04/2016
LA VIDA QUE SE TEJE Tejidos de América Latina por la memoria y la vida, 11/05/2016 - 10/07/2016
Art and Human Rights Network Day , 20/06/2017 - 20/06/2017
Textile Language of Conflicts, 6/11/2017 - 10/11/2017
Huellas: puntadas y caminares de la memoria / Footprints: memory stitches and steps , 29/09/2018 - 4/11/2018
Embracing Human Rights: Conflict Textiles’ Journey, 9/01/2020 - 31/07/2020
Textile practices as forms of healing, caring and resisting , 24/06/2021 - 25/06/2021
Arpilleras Poéticas, 7/12/2023 - 12/02/2024
Diásporas textiles: Diálogos con la Colección, 12/02/2024 - 17/03/2024



Textile Detail Image(s)

  'Represión a los Mapuche / Repression of the Mapuche' (detail 1), by Pamela Luque. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)  Represión a los Mapuche / Repression of the Mapuche' (detail 2), by Pamela Luque. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)  Represión a los Mapuche / Repression of the Mapuche' (detail 3), by Pamela Luque. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)