Exhibition “Memories (a)puntadas” at Casa Velasco
- Casa Velasco, Santo Domingo 689, Santiago.
- Until April 12.
- Every Friday – 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Free.
Every Friday, from March 1 to April 12, Casa Velasco, the headquarters of Fundación Artesanías de Chile, will open its doors to the public so they can tour the exhibition Memories (a)puntadas: our place in history .
It is an exhibition that brings together 32 works created by 30 arpilleristas from the Metropolitan Region within the framework of the 50 years of the Coup d’état; a space for dialogue, memory and creativity aimed at the appreciation and transmission of this cultural community, which will be opened to the public for the first time after a first itinerant at the National Historical Museum (MHN) in 2023.
From May 25 to July 20, 2023, 30 arpillerist women from the Metropolitan Region met weekly at Casa Velasco, the headquarters of Fundación Artesanías de Chile in central Santiago, to weave their memories of the dictatorship in arpilleras, in addition to review the recent history of Chile based on your experience and testimonies. The authors also actively participated in the writing of the curatorial text, the explanatory documents and the general design of the exhibition.
The result of these sessions are the 32 works that make up this exhibition. They were originally exhibited between September 2023 and January 2024 at the National Historical Museum.
“Arpilleras de la Memoria: 50 Years after the Coup” was an activity developed by the Subdirectorate of Intangible Cultural Heritage together with the National Historical Museum.
Credit: Paula Martinez.
“The arpilleras are embroidered cloths that, since the dictatorship, women have made as a form of denunciation and therapy. Under the eaves of the Church, around 1975, they learned to make them and then continued embroidering in clandestine silence, often at night by the dim light of a candle. The Vicariate of Solidarity took them abroad, and with this, they became a lifeline for many families. The technique was transmitted in the neighborhoods through whispers, and likewise, from generation to generation.
The arpilleras portray experiences into which memory time slips between the stitches. Fifty years after the coup d’état, we, the Arpilleristas of the Metropolitan Region, entered the Registry of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and a wind of solemn commemoration brought us together. We made a place among heritage houses, to share stories with each other. Among us are the first generations of the seventies, and those who learned along the way until today. Our daughters and granddaughters also participated, embroidering their memories as an inheritance. “Here, we present a series of stories from those difficult years, in which women’s gazes made their place in history.”
Credit: Ly González
Curatorial text prepared by the participating arpilleristas:
Jessica Alarcón Coin | Alfaro Astorga | Maira Bustos Lark Elizabeth Chaparro Spinoza | Solange Cortes Assis Myli Pincheira Vasquez | Viviana Diaz Alvarez Ana Maria Fernandez Moreno | Nadia Galdámez Rock Gloria Gallardo Arredondo | Isabel Gallardo Moreno Sarah Henriquez Pinto | Gladys Hernandez Hernandez Patricia Hidalgo Astorga | Alicia Juica Rocco | Maria Madariaga Pinochet Hilda Mardones Botarro | John Olave Olave | Aida Moreno Kings Etelvina Munoz Gallardo | Maria Eugenia Meza Orellana Cindy Palma Munoz | Elvira Parra Gallardo | Maria Elizabeth Diaz Ibarra | Rose Ramirez Liberona Patricia Ruiz Delgado | Camila Roeschmann Schafer Elizabeth Roco Fields | Laura Ramirez | Eugenia Valdivia Briones