Trapped. I Have Not Forgotten
Open AccessAbstract of ThesisTrapped. I Have Not ForgottenFocusing on my personal history living under a dictatorship in Chile, Trapped. I Have Not Forgotten (2022) underlines one of the many acts of violence and censorship imposed by the coup d’état on September 11, 1973. Research found in the recently released unclassified documents by the United States Department of State related to the events in Chile during 1968 through 1991 are presented in the exhibition. The brutality lived and the repercussion of the military occupation changed the civic, spiritual, creative, and family life. Recollecting stories from my family and the events in Chilean society, I knitted a fish net made of jute and recycled materials to connect them with the lives of seventy-five females detenidas desaparecidas (detained and disappeared). I recollected archival materials and used the craft of stitching passed on from my grandparents to highlight United States collaboration in the coup and represent the repression of the arrested women. During my research I developed a personal connection with my roots, family stories and the intimate suffering that my grandmother and mother encountered during the dictatorship decades. Diving into family stories, using materials like clay or the craft of knitting a net, I created a relationship with the disappearance and killings of detainees during those years. In my research, I encountered seventy-five women that were part of a large group of 4,979 that were executed because of their opposition to the government. Eleven of them were pregnant. As an immigrant in the United States, my memory has been shadowed by cultural assimilation. However, I have not forgotten who is accountable for the crimes committed fifty years ago.
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