UNMASKING 2020, AN ARPILLERA

Students Take an Artistic Stand on What Matters to Them

This arpillera was designed and sewn by everyday secondary school students at Northfield Middle & High School during the tumultuous Covid-19 pandemic school year of 2020/2021. It was designed and assembled amidst a year of mass death, protest, and other unrest, in a class entitled Social Justice Art Through the Latin American Lens. This class was co-taught by the art teacher and world language teacher, and this project was largely made possible by the generous donations of supplies, talent, and time by Northfield School’s most creative and artistic philanthropist, Joanna Sumner.

As noted, this project is a contemporary United States students’ take on a traditional Chilean arpillera: a fiber art form made by the people of Chile to covertly inform the world of atrocities being committed by the self-imposed dictator, General Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet claimed political power in 1973 through a military coup. During his regime (1973-1990), thousands of people, mostly men, political dissidents, or anyone suspected of any unfavorable political opinions, “disappeared” to prison camps, torture facilities, and sites of mass execution. These artworks were the brave efforts by otherwise powerless, mostly common women, mothers, daughters, and sisters. Through the arpilleras denouncing human rights abuses in Chile and smuggled out with the support of the local Catholic Church, these women made their “voices” heard around the world. Over time, as Pinochet’s reign of terror faded into recent history, many of the policy ills of his regime have slowly been, and are still being, repaired. The arpillera art form even made a comeback this past year, as young protesters in Chile peacefully tipped the scale, leading to a rewriting of the Pinochet-era Constitution.

In like spirit, the students of Northfield High School and their three adult teacher mentors have chosen topics dear to their hearts that they feel require the attention and hard work of every United States resident to make right. The topics all orbit the concept of Social Justice, which the class defines as the work needing to be done for everyone to be treated fairly, with dignity and respect, and provided with an equal opportunity for success in our world. The quilted shape is also a mask, laden with symbolism in and of itself. The mask is 3 layers thick, representing what is needed for safety in the pandemic. It is also 6 feet wide, the distance that people all needed to be apart from one another this year. In addition, the mask is a shield representing protection -- a civic duty that has allowed our school to remain in session and in person when so many other schools are closed and teaching remotely. Metaphorically, the images carefully crafted by the hands of the students are all meant to illustrate, educate, and inspire. They are meant to be a bulwark against the ignorance, hate, and fear that divide us. Although the many issues represented may at first seem discrete and unique, they all interconnect in subtle and important ways. The students hope that by viewing this art and reflecting on their artist statements, Northfield High School can help highlight the struggle for justice across continents and time and sew greater understanding and empathy for a more inclusive and brighter future here and now.