| Description: | This colourful rural scene harks back to early, pre-Pinochet arpilleras produced on Isla Negra by depicting folk life in Chile. Two families staying in a countryside cottage watch a Huaso (identifiable by his hat, spurs, and poncho). Huaso’s are Chilean horseback farmers, like cowboys in their importance to Chilean folk culture. The families might have come from the city, taking a break from the hustle and bustle to reconnect with nature.
This scene might have been an escape from the arpillerista’s daily life, either remembering a previous trip, or imagining an ideal holiday. While at first glance, these two families look alike, the family in the middle face and reach out to the ordinary man riding horseback in the lower right, presumably the father of the family. In the lower left, the other family appears sombre and have no father figure present. It is likely these children’s father is not present either because he has been imprisoned or disappeared, like many others by the Pinochet regime. The woman and her daughter are looking solemnly out of the image while the young son looks towards the other family’s father. He’s perhaps too young to remember his own father and wants what he sees the other young children have. Even during an idyllic escape, their loss is ever-present. (HM0425) |
