Arte, Mujer y Memoria: Arpilleras from Chile

MEMCh

Founded in 1935, Movement for the Emancipation of the Chilean Woman (MEMCh) is a global non-partisan network that amplifies the voices of women. Throughout its history MEMCh has pushed for suffrage, equal education, and reproductive rights and has opposed fascism. MEMCh was dissolved in 1953 but reemerged thirty years later with the purpose of restoring democracy to Chile.

 

Chilean women affected by the coup were incredibly influential not just politically but also artistically. Known as "the mother of Latin American Folk" Violeta Parra is also an arpillera artist and painter. Her daughter, Isabel, followed in her mother's musical footsteps and in 2011 released an album where she interpreted her mother's songs.

How do you keep the legacy of important women in your life alive?

 

Anonymous
Work, Justice, and Freedom, n.d., Embroidered textile, 13 ¾ x 17 ½ inches, Courtesy of Francisco Letelier and Isabel Morel Letelier

Women protest with pot lids to signify empty pots & hunger. They are the public voice that demands freedom, justice, work, and peace.

Arpillerista L.C.C.
Never Forgive! Never Forget!, 1980, Embroidered textile, 14 ½ x 19 inches, Courtesy of Rosalind Bresnahan

When those in power will neither acknowledge nor apologize for abuses and atrocities, victims can rightfully declare that they will neither forgive nor forget!

Anthony Rauld (Chile, b. 1976)
Common Thread, 2019, Video, 36:59
Courtesy of Anthony Rauld

The story behind the MEMCH LA arpilleras, which were returned to Chile and donated to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago.