Arpilleras

   In Chile, testimony often took the form of arpilleras, woven tapestries depicting scenes of daily life under the rule of Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. At first, the making of the arpilleras— named for the arpilla, or burlap, that backs them—did not attract the military’s attention—weaving was an activity associated with working-class or rural women, often deemed passive and domestic. However, the arpilleristas—as the women involved came to be known—soon became powerful voices of dissent with their depiction of the desaparecidos (missing), the repression, the food-and-housing shortages caused by the regime’s economic policies, and other realities of life under the dictatorship. Generally associated with the social programs administered by the country’s Vicaría de la Solidaridad, the sale of arpilleras abroad generated income for the women while documenting the abuses of human rights. In time, the making of these textiles represented a form of empowerment for many of the women, who went on to depict scenes of domestic abuse as well. While the term arpilleras remains linked to Chile, the tradition of textually commemorating loved ones is old. It has recently acquired visibility elsewhere with activities such as the AIDS Memorial Quilt.