The military dictatorship led by Lieutenant General Videla in Argentina from 1976-1983 was characterised by human rights violations, forced disappearances and illegal arrests. The Nunca Más (Never Again) report (1984) by the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons estimate that up to 9000 cases of forced disappearance and other human rights violations were perpetrated and conclude the real figure to be much higher. Approximately 30% of victims were women with children under the age of 15 numbering 200.
Abducted pregnant women, who gave birth in detention centres were then generally killed whilst many of their babies were illegally adopted by military or political families.These atrocities seeded the beginnings of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers) in 1977, a non-governmental organization which highlighted and investigated the disappearances of their children and grandchildren.
In this arpillera, first exhibited in Women that Sew Days Together, Buenos Aires 2015, we see these grandmothers marching around the obelisk in front of the government buildings in Plaza de Mayo. Every Thursday, for over forty years, they have continued this action, protesting and denouncing the disappearance of their children and grandchildren, and demanding answers.
The swirling white stitches marks their weekly walk, signigying that it is ongoing, seemingly never ending. The bleak colours allude to this dark period of Argintinean history; an era that the Abuelas will not permit the state to forget.
(Global Ministries - external partner) Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Argentina
(European Parliament) Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo – 1992, Argentina
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