Poco se gana hilando, pero menos mirando

2016 - Textile (Textile)

90 x 170 cm each

Claudia Gutiérrez

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The title for this body of work, Poco se gana hilando, pero menos mirando , is based on a Spanish saying that underestimates feminized crafts or tasks, implying that it is better for a woman to be doing ‘something’, no matter how useless it is, instead of just doing nothing. This series of works by Claudia Gutiérrez Marfull features embroideries that represent the peripheral and marginalized landscapes of Puente Alto commune in Santiago, the city’s biggest district and its most southern outskirts. In 2015, when this work was produced, there was not a single health service provider, police station, pharmacy, daycare or school in the whole area of Puente Alto. While each piece uses the technique of embroidery that would traditionally suggest nostalgic images, instead they depict the territory of the city that has been socially abandoned and economically segregated. While these images respond to the national context, the problems they represent are universally recognizable; depicting places abandoned by the State and government institutions.

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Artist Claudia Gutiérrez Marfull’s work is characterised by both the exploration of textile crafts, and the representation of peripheral landscapes of Santiago. The artist embroiders scenes and situations that are not usually captured with this type of technique and materiality; in particular, situations that are experienced in the streets in some of the most vulnerable areas of Chile, where violence and the experience of marginalization occurs. Gutiérrez Marfull’s practice mixes embroidery with weaving and draws inspiration from different groups, such as the Copiulemu Embroiderers or the Lo Hermida Arpilleristas, as well as the work of artists such as Cecilia Vicuña or Carlos Arias. The artist also comes from a family of women who have all worked with textiles in some way, making it a constant in her life and cultural environment. The artist however does not use these techniques in a traditional way but instead manipulates them to represent her contemporary environment, in particular where graffiti, gangs, and weapons have acquired a certain aesthetic value.

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Colors:

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• infrastructure.n.01
• development.n.01
• trade.n.02
• fabric.n.01
• feminism.n.01
• urban.a.01