Arpillera is a quilting art form that is common in many Latin American countries. It is particularly famous in Chile where this feminist popular art is a symbol of rebellion against Pinochet's dictatorship. Women who had lost their loved ones to the military repression met weekly to share their burdens while creating small but very powerful tapestries about the everyday scenes of the totalitarian regime.
Given the similarities between the recent political situation in Chile and the dictatorship, the artist uses the same traditional technique, though on a much bigger scale, to manifest the social uprising. This work not only alludes to Pinochet's dictatorship but also illustrates the radical transformation in Chile.
Many actual characters from the protest appear in the work, such as the feminist collective “Las Tesis” and their “Un violador en tu camino” (A rapist in your path) performance, the young student Gustavo Gatica who was blinded by the police or “El perro matapacos”, a dog famous for defending protesters from the police during the student movements of 2011, who has become a symbol of rebellion.
