Violeta Parra e suas arpilleras decoloniais

Abstract

This paper focuses on the life and work of the folklorist and multi-artist Violeta Parra. It has an emphasis on her production of arpilleras (embroidering resistance) as a fundamental contribution to the constitution of the decolonial artistic and cultural legacy of Latin American peoples. To this end we start from the analytical study of Estivil (2016; 2018), who understands the work of Violeta Parra as an expression of a decolonizing art determined to emancipate the Chilean and Andean folk tradition from the ballast of colonialism and modernity, which situates her as one of the precursors of Latin American Contemporary Art. To discuss her artistic production, her creative process, and her artistic-cultural mission, we take as our main source the documentary Violeta Parra, Pintora Chilena (2007), by Ignacio Agüero. The text is constituted by a brief history of Violeta's life and work, followed by the presentation and analysis of her production of arpilleras, concluding with the unfolding of her contribution to resistance movements of working class women in Chile and Brazil.