Sewing Resistance

Teaching through Chilean textile art

Arpilleras

As part of the 'Sewing Resistance: Teaching through Chilean Textile Art' exhibition in the Sir Duncan Rice Library, Professor Patience Schell recorded a workshop on 'How to create arpillera dolls'.

Arpilleras are a Chilean textile art form which were used during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) to chronicle everyday lives and bear witness to the political situation.

Traditionally made by women from scraps of fabric and materials to hand, arpilleras offered an income in difficult economic circumstances and a voice with which to tell their stories of resistance, in a context of death squads, disappearances and prison camps.

More on Arpilleras

Conflict Textiles

Conflict Textiles is home to a large collection of international textiles, exhibitions and associated events, all of which focus on elements of conflict and human rights abuses.

Stitching Resistance

The University of New Mexico has put together this resource for teaching with and studying arpilleras, including more detailed information about how they can be made and reading/viewing recommendations.

Threads of Hope

Marjorie Agosin discusses the Chilean arpilleras, small tapestries made from leftover cloth that told the stories of a variety of human rights abuses at the hands of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. In Spanish, "arpillera" means "burlap."

William Benton Museum of Art

Folk art? Messages of protest? Historical records? Chilean arpilleras (are-pea-air-uhs, burlap in Spanish) are all of these.

Crafting Resistance: The Art of Chilean Political Prisoners

Crafting Resistance: The Art of Chilean Political Prisoners from The Derek Jarman Lab on Vimeo.