| Description: | This piece was made in an arpillera workshop, most likely in Santiago, during some of the worst years of the Pinochet dictatorship. The participants - all of whom had family members or relatives who were disappeared - were prompted by the facilitator to draw on and depict memories of a happier time. As the women shaped their pieces, their dominant focus was on remembering and celebrating their disappeared relatives rather than on anger at the human rights abuses perpetrated by the dictatorship. This focus gave them a brief reprieve and strength to cope with the violence of the present era.
The woman who completed this arpillera had two sons who were disappeared. She depicts travelling to the beach along the popular minibus Ovalle Negrete route, the vehicle packed to capacity with passengers and their belongings. For an instant, we, like her, imagine ourselves stretched out on the warm sand, watching the sailing boats glide by and feeling the hot sun in our bones. As she works on the piece, she may forget the harshness of her present life and revisit these beach trips, surrounded by her boys, now disappeared
These affordable day trips to the beach, continued during the Pinochet regime and were also a form of peaceful protest by working class people. It symbolised their hope for a better future. |
