Analysis of Donde Están arpillera
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Title
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Analysis of Donde Están arpillera
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Contributor
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Shadab Ahmed; Curtis Baldwin
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extracted text
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The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile was an incredibly violent 17-year period. Tens
of thousands of people, mostly men who opposed the regime, were tortured, kidnapped,
and “disappeared” by this brutal regime. With such wide-spread, violent means of
suppressing political resistance, Chilean women turned to artistic resistance in the form
of arpilleras. Arpilleras typically depict military violence, or everyday life in Chile. Even
the arpilleras that depict everyday life show some aspects of the Pinochet dictatorship;
they leave things out, or alter small details to give an uncanny feeling that something
isn’t right.
This arpillera only depicts women. While women were targeted by the Pinochet
regime, and reported their children being stolen and adopted by military families, men
were more commonly targeted which is why there are none in this arpillera. The women
in the scene are shown doing many things: dancing, walking in the forest (presumably to
collect food), walking around the houses, and holding a sign that says “Donde Estan.”
Without context, this almost looks like normal life in Chile; however, we know the
women in the scene are grieving the loss of their sons, fathers, brothers, or husbands,
while continuing to live and work as if nothing had happened.
All of the women in the arpillera are excellently dressed. The attention to detail
on the dresses, all of which are well designed and beautifully posed, is incredibly
impressive given that they are only a few inches tall. Similarly, the hair is very well done;
despite being on a head the size of a blueberry, every woman has a unique hairstyle that
is textured and styled. Femininity was a powerful tool of protest under Pinochet. It
allowed women to protest, create arpilleras, and partially protected them from being
disappeared. However, it didn’t spare them from the cruelty of disappearances. People
who weren’t disappeared, still had to live with the grief of losing people they knew.
Women had to work, tend to their families, and protest against disappearances.
The environment in this arpillera depicts the Andes mountains, and the sun,
which are present in nearly all arpilleras in Augie’s collection, as well as some trees and
houses. The detailing on the scenery is exceptional. The pattern on the mountains all
match, which likely means they were hand-dyed. The colors on the trees work very well
together, and the patterns for the ground are very fun. On top of all this, the stitch work
is great. Many other arpilleras used running stitches or back stitches for the designs,
while this one uses mostly cross stitches. The lines are incredibly clean, and add to the
texture of the piece.
This arpilerra, like many others, is even more impressive when considering the
context in which it was made. They were made on burlap sacks with only the materials
people had on hand, including clothes of people who were disappeared. Arpilleras were
often a collective project where women shared materials and skills to create beautiful
artworks. I rarely see art as beautiful, cohesive, and politically meaningful as this
arpillera, even in an era of
crafting where many of us have
access to warehouse-sized craft
stores. It’s hard to believe, but
also so amazing to see something
like this made on a burlap sack,
during the Pinochet regime.
