In the previous post, we looked at a flag sewn by a group of people and used as a message in the aftermath of the French elections.
In modern history, there have been other cases in which tapestries and textile works made by collectives of people were used in a political way or to comment on society.
On display at the 60th International Art Exhibition in Venice (until 24th November), there are a few examples of powerful textile works made by two collectives of artisans.
One is the eight meters wide and two and a half meters high tapestry by the Bordadoras de Isla Negra, a group of embroiderers from Chile that produced brightly colored textiles telling the story of daily life in Chile between 1967 and 1980.
The piece at the Venice Biennale has a history: it was made by ten self-taught women from the Isla Negra embroidery collective in 1972, together with the project director, artist, and prominent resident of Isla Negra, Leonor Sobrino de Vera.
The large tapestry made with colored wool threads is composed of different sections showing various environments and local elements from the Isla Negra territory, including scenes from the women's personal experiences.
On the right of the panel, there is a small town with buildings in ordered rows, then fields where people are working, a mining camp, and the sea with marine creatures and fishermen on boats.
The tapestry is designed to represent a cross-section of the central valley of Chile, from the sea to the Andes. Some characters are based on real local inhabitants, including Pablo Neruda, the poet who lived in the area, portrayed chasing butterflies in the panel.
Neruda wrote about the bordaderas in Para nacer he nacido (1969), stating "Nothing is more beautiful than these embroideries, distinguished in their purity, radiant with a joy that has overcome many sufferings. I proudly present the embroiderers of Isla Negra. It is clear why my poetry has taken root here" (spot Neruda chasing butterflies in the seventh image in this post).
The piece was produced for the UNCTAD III building, created under the government of Salvador Allende.
Construction of the building began in 1971: the UNCTAD had to host the Third Conference on Trade and Development, held in April 1972. It was considered an emblem of the popular power brought by Allende after his presidential election.
For this reason, its constructive, urban, and stylistic foundations were built on the participation, commitment, and solidarity of its architects (José Covacevich, Hugo Gaggero, Juan Echenique, José Medina, and Sergio González), and of thousands of workers, artists, and dozens of cultural professionals, who completed its construction in just 275 days.
This project had a clear commitment to integrating visual arts into its infrastructure and artist Eduardo Martínez Bonati was in charge of coordinating visual artists and artisans that had to be featured in this space.
The pieces created by them included not only traditional works of art (murals, paintings, and sculptures) but also furniture, lamps, water fountains, and textile pieces like this one.
The work on display at the Venice Biennale disappeared in September 1973 after the Pinochet dictatorship took over the building and turned it into its center of operations.
It was eventually recovered in 2019 and taken to the building that today houses the GAM Cultural Center, an institution that has it on loan.
Some claim that the Bordadoras de Isla Negra influenced other textile projects like those made in Chile by the arpillerista groups of the 1970s. At the venice Biennale there is also a section dedicated to the arpilleras.
The arpilleristas work differently: while the bordadoras mainly use embroidery techniques, the arpilleristas work with fabric scraps and combine them with other materials.
The technique they use - the name arpillera comes after the burlap sacks that serve as their backing substrate - is recognized in Chile as Intangible Cultural Heritage due to the knowledge and skills associated with it.
The technique emerged during the Chilean dictatorship as a way for women to work collectively, generate income (making arpilleras was often the only way for these women to earn money), reveal what was happening in the country, and deal with trauma.
They can be compared not just to paintings but to a newspaper page made of fabric, serving as a form of expression and a way to publicly communicate, denounce human rights violations and inform people of what was going on in Chile.
Modern arpilleras may focus on various contemporary issues, from feminism to environmental concerns, as well as the power of the collective during the pandemic.
The arpilleras on display in Venice are artifacts created during Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship (1973-1989) in Chile.
They were made by unidentified Chilean artists, probably acquired at solidarity sales in the 1980s, and then donated to the Museo del Barrio in New York.
As stated above, usually, the arpilleras depict struggles during Pinochet's regime and life before the dictatorship.
Yet most of the pieces on display in the Arsenale feature scenes populated by characters engaged in acts of solidarity: dressed in cute polka-dot and gingham dresses with crocheted arms and legs, the characters are shown carrying packages and bags of food, working, sewing or knitting in a church, or eating in a canteen.
All the characters seem to be as busy as bees, working for the benefit of society and embodying through their actions messages of solidarity and community power, as embroidered in the tapestries, with one stating "El pueblo ayuda al pueblo" (People help people).
The landscape here is not as detailed as the works of the bordadoras, but the artisans emphasize values such as solidarity. For example, the boats in one of the arpilleras have symbolic names - Paz (Peace), Solidaridad (Solidarity), and Libertad (Freedom) - while an oversized dove flies above the people, spreading love and peace.
Like the tapestries produced by the bordadoras, the arpilleras' collective works are a testament to participation in society, moved by an almost journalistic will to narrate events and tell stories.
Exhibiting these works in major art events publicly acknowledges these women who, through their art, emerged as the protagonists of these political, social, and cultural projects.
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