MANDEL SCHOOL
NEWS AND EVENTS
September 17, 2007
The Gallery @ MSASS Features Threads of Hope: Exhibit of Chilean arpilleras
Exhibit Dates: September 17, 2007 – November 15, 2007.
This exhibit showcases 22 tapestries created by a group of ordinary Chilean women who defied the military regime of Augusto Pinochet of the 1970s and 80s. These tapestries -- arpilleras -- recreate stories of the loved ones abducted, missing and murdered by the dictatorship, giving a voice to those left behind at a time when it was too dangerous to speak out against the atrocities committed by the military regime. The arpilleras featured in this exhibit are from the collection of Chilean poet, writer and human rights activist, Professor Marjorie Agosín who has spent more than twenty years interviewing the arpilleristas.
By embroidering their sorrow on scraps of leftover cloth, the arpilleristas transform their experiences of grief and searching into an artistic and powerful fabric of memory and hope. The arpilleras have served as testimony to the tenacity and faith of these women in their determined struggle for truth and justice, and to break the code of silence imposed upon them by the Pinochet regime. These courageous women often met clandestinely to stitch their stories of pain and love with threads of hope onto remnants of fabric in order to save their common tales of torture and deceit from oblivion.
The arpilleras display bright, cheery colors and bold lines associated with traditional Latin American folk art, belying the disturbing messages stitched by the women. Among the recurring themes that appear: “where are they?” (“dónde están?”); messages from the families of the detained and disappeared (detenidos y desaparecidos), often with their photos stitched onto the tapestries; cries for truth, justice (verdad y justicia) and unity (unidad: sólo con la unidad conseguiremos la verdad y la justicia: only with unity, will we obtain truth and justice); and the cueca sola, the traditional Chilean dance of courtship by a couple, now danced by a woman alone or with other women.
There are representations of horrific scenes, as in the arpillera depicting military tanks shooting tear gas on the people, and another reveals “Hornos Lonquen” where 15 peasants were shot and burned alive. There are denunciations of Pinochet, as shown in the arpillera, “Pinochet culpaple” (“Pinochet is guilty”) and an arpillera featuring a dark cloud blowing away the hopes and future of Chileans (paz, pan, justicia, verdad, trabajo, vivienda, libertad, educación). On the back of the latter, there is a message by the anonymous arpillerista: “This is how Pinochet destroyed the Chilean people: by taking away their peace, bread, justice, truth, work, housing, liberty and education.” Among the most poignant pieces in this collection is the arpillera dedicated to the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral and displays a line of her poetry, “Piececitos de nino, azulosos de frío” (“Oh, little feet of children, turned blue from the cold”). Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1945) and another Chilean female whose life was dedicated to bringing about a more just and equitable society.
In spite of the violence, repression and loss during the years of the dictatorship, the arpilleristas continually found solace and support in the workshops. Some of the arpilleras in this exhibit reflect the hope of these remarkable women for a more just and democratic Chile.
Related events featuring renowned poet and activist Marjorie Agosín
November 5, 2007
Writing Towards Hope: Free Public Lecture
4:30 pm (Reception at 4:00 pm)
Clark Hall, Room 309, Case Western Reserve University
11130 Bellflower Road, Cleveland
November 6, 2007
12 pm - 1:00 pm. Brown bag luncheon with Marjorie Agosín,
Mandel School Atrium, 3rd floor.
November 15, 2007
Closing reception for the exhibit
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED