Arpilleras …

No one enters in

window and door keeps me safe

no one ventures out

Long before I realised that embroidery on hessian was a part of the rich South American culture or indeed story cloths were happening in the Hmong community in refuge camps in Thailand.  I began stitching sacks bought back from Rio de Janeiro where I had seen coffee and sugar sacks and floor cloths made into all sorts of beautiful household items and scarves.  Using skills learned during a time when the slaves on the sugar and coffee plantations wanted to decorate their hovels or find a way to supplement their paltry salaries.  So, since I have discovered that story telling is happening in Chile as well and the women of Northern Ireland use the art of arpilleras to ‘interpret their pain’ during troubled times.