Textile testimony in 'Women Affected by Dams: Embroidering Our Rights'

Created by a consortium of Brazilian women united under the Coletivo Nacional de Mulheres do Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB) umbrella, arpilleras—Spanish for burlap, or scraps of fabric embroidered on jute—became a language of female agency during the Pinochet regime. Primarily created by mothers, wives and relatives of political prisoners, these works depict scenes of everyday life, repression and the struggle for rights. This 2019 arpillera, titled Privatização que mata [Privatization That Kills] and produced by women from the state of Pará, depicts a scene of chaos. A large green triangle dominates half the composition, an oblique reference to the Brazilian mining company Vale, infamous for two catastrophic dam failures: Mariana, in 2015, and Brumadinho, in 2019. Embroidered on top of the logo is the MAB slogan “O lucro não vale a vida [Profit is not worth life].” Blood drips off of the logo, down to the earth below, where a post-traumatic maelstrom plays out in the mud. A helicopter hovers above, searching for missing bodies among the scene of devastation. Groups of protestors surround the appliqué, holding placards featuring messages such as “LUTO e RESISTENCIA” to express their outrage and demands for justice. “For many people, the arpillera may seem like just a piece of art to hang on the wall. For us, the political significance of this textile testimony lies in the organization of women, in the fight for their rights and in the political proposition—of dreams, of utopias, of what we long for. It’s a denunciation, but it’s also a project of hope,” writes Daiane Höhn, a MAB activist.

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Women's History Month Staff Picks, 2026

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Published to accompany the traveling survey currently on view at ICA Boston, An Indigenous Present, co-published with BIG NDN Press, is a monumental gathering of more than 60 contemporary artists, photographers, musicians, writers and more, showcasing diverse approaches to Indigenous concepts, forms and mediums. Forthcoming staff favorites include the exhibition catalog Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings, co-published with Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and the photography monograph Melissa Auf der Maur: My ’90s Rock Photographs, co-published with Art Gallery of Ontario.

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