Chilean Arpilleras: Threads of Resistance

Under an oppressive government responsible for the deaths and disappearances of their loved ones, Chilean women raised their voices through arpilleras, three dimensional appliqué textiles. Through needle, thread and scraps of cloth, the women of Chile brought international awareness to the torture, murder and disappearance of their loved ones under the junta of General Augusto Pinochet.

On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet led a dramatic military coup against Chile's democratically elected Marxist government. Tens of thousands of so-called subversive citizens were rounded up into Santiago's national football stadium where many were publicly executed. Over the next few months, at least 3,000 Chilean citizens were murdered or disappeared and thousands more were imprisoned and tortured. The violence of the coup and the oppression that followed under the resulting junta shocked the world.

The military government suspended the constitution and deftly extinguished opposition. Congress was dissolved, a curfew was enacted and media was strictly limited. With over 30,000 political prisoners held in internment camps, the impact of the country's turmoil rippled through families. With an overwhelming desire to find their loved ones, the sisters, mothers and wives of the disappeared began a resistance through their arpilleras.

The works were viewed as insignificant by the military guards and regime officials. They were most often dismissed merely as "women's work." The keen viewer could recognize the camouflaged messages in the images; they were works of protest and resistance.

The arpilleras were often made from clothing of the disappeared and the names of missing loved ones can be found on some pieces. Other sewn words and expressions were simple protests: Dόnde estás? Where are you? The censorship that characterized Chile under Pinochet's dictatorship defeated written words that opposed his regime. The handwork of the arpilleristas testified for the oppressed and detailed the struggle for truth and justice despite the suppression of the military government.

Bold lines and colors relayed powerful messages depicted in folk-like scenes. An arpillera of a woman dancing signifies how women now performed the national dance La Cueca alone with the fate of their husbands unknown. Other images depict military violence, bloodshed and armed figures.

The arpilleras were made during clandestine meetings in dark basements or churches. The sewn testimonials of suffering were sold by the women so that their messages were released into the world and so they could feed their families. Over decades, the common experiences of these women were given graphic representation in remnants of fabric and the abuses of Pinochet's junta were recorded.

Today, these women continue to protest as they have for decades. The questions they asked through their arpilleras have never been answered. The whereabouts of their loved ones remains unknown. Although Augusto Pinochet was charged with human rights abuses in 1998, eight years of legal wrangling ensued. In the end, at his death in 2006, Pinochet escaped trial. Although the families of the disappeared will never know the true fate of their loved ones, the determination of the arpilleristas ensured that they were not written out of history.