Arpilleras

Arpilleras are brightly-colored patchwork pictures made by groups of women (also known as arpilleristas) in Chile during the military dictatorship in Chile (1973 - 90). They typically depict scenes of hardship and violence these women experienced due to their impoverished and oppressive living conditions during the regime. Arpilleras were made in workshops organized by a committee of the Chilean Catholic Church and then secretly distributed abroad through the church's human rights group at the time, the Vicariate of Solidarity. This provided the arpilleristas with a vital source of income while many of their husbands and sons were being kept in jails and detention centers, had been killed or made to disappear.