In this workshop, join a traditional arpillera circle. In community, we will reflect on the images of political violence we are living around us. Using materials tied to Blue Light Junction, and techniques that are traditional to Chilean fiber traditions, each participant will create a small arpillera that documents and honors their testimony. Our practice will highlight how arpilleras are both a formal art object, laden with innovative and endemic fiber techniques, and also a method to identify and self-document political realities using fiber.
Background History
In 1970s Chile, the brutality of right-wing military dictator Augusto Pinochet became known around the world. After a violent coup d’etat of Chile’s previous socialist president, Pinochet’s government terrorized citizens – especially labor activists, Indigenous people, artists, and feminists – through mass incarceration, police violence, torture, exile, forced disappearance, and many other abuses. Groups of working class women began to gather, often clandestinely, to create arpilleras: embroidered quilt collages that depicted scenes of the violence, sorrow, grief, and anger they saw around them. The arpillera became a narrative craft form that narrated the ways Chilean people experienced and resisted state terrorism. Under conditions of extreme censorship, international acquisition and exhibition of arpilleras became a principal mechanism by which those outside of Chile learned of the Pinochet regime. In this way, the arpillera became an “embroidered testimony,” a charismatic craft that helped garner resistance to topple the dictatorship.
Workshop Title: Embroidering Testimonies: Chilean Arpilleras
Venue: Blue Light Junction
Venue Address: 209 McAllister Street, Suite A, Baltimore, MD 21202
Date: Saturday, November 14th
Workshop Time: 12:00 PM–4:00 PM (includes one 30-minute break)
Facilitator: Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida
Participant Fee: Sliding Scale: $35–$60
Pricing:
• $35 (15 seats)
• $60 (15 seats)
Currently, we only accept payments through PayPal. If you would like to use a different payment method, please contact us at bluelightjunction@gmail.com for assistance.
About our sliding Scale
$35
15 spots
Consider paying this amount if you have limited expendable income, have little or no access to financial support from family, have significant debt, and little or no access to savings. This is a discounted rate.
$60
15 spots
Please consider paying this amount if you are comfortably able to meet your basic needs, own the home you live in, have paid or pay for private education, travel recreationally, have access to financial savings and/or investments, have reliable work or do not have to work to meet your needs, have inherited wealth, and/or have increased earning privilege due to your race, gender, or education. This rate sustains me in working with folx who need a lower rate.
Thanks to Orion Johnstone and Worts & Cunning + Sun English for the language for supporting & articulating sliding scale to better support our learning community.
Biography
Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida (b. 2002, Los Angeles) is an experimental ethnographic researcher and textile artist based between Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
Borgsdorf’s research and visual arts work addresses the affective and emotional dimensions of life in Chile and the Chilean diaspora following the right-wing military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) and the formulation of a free trade economy in dictatorial Chile, often called the “cradle of neoliberalism.” Borgsdorf addresses these themes and images using traditional Andean weaving methods and materials critical in the formation of political violence in Chile, such as sheep’s wool, copper, and salt. In addition to his work in basketry and tapestry, Borgsdorf Fuenzalida is known for his “new arpilleras,” expanded fiber and photographic works that utilize the craft aesthetics of the arpillera tradition, embroidered fiber collages pioneered by artists during the Pinochet dictatorship to document political violence.
Borgsdorf’s work has been exhibited at The Phillips Collection, Washington DC; Wolfpack HQ through the Estates of Luchita Hurtado and Lee Mullican, Los Angeles; VisArts, Rockville, Maryland; Hamiltonian Artists, Washington DC; Glen Echo Arts Park, Rockville; IA&A Hillyer Gallery, Washington, DC; Room 3557, Los Angeles; and Washington Studio School. He is a 2025-2027 Hamiltonian Artists Fellow (Washington, DC), was a 2024 Iburra Arts and Research Resident at Blue Light Junction (Baltimore, MD), and was a 2025 Bresler Artist in Residence at VisArts. They have published research at the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Santiago, Chile) and an artist book sold at Art & Book at Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles. He has also taught workshops on arpillera making, weaving, salt sculpture, and natural dyes at institutions across the country, including the Craft Contemporary Museum (Los Angeles), the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA; Baltimore), Southwest Business Improvement District (Washington, DC), VisArts, (Rockville, MD), and Blue Light Junction (Baltimore, MD).
For acquisition, exhibition, and press inquiries, please contact studio@diegoborgsdorf.com.
“Some Kind of Blue” at Studio Blue (concept store upstairs) will also be open for browsing and shopping.
Please Note:
•There are 20 stairs to climb to Studio Blue. We apologize for whatever inconvenience this may cause.
In this workshop, join a traditional arpillera circle. In community, we will reflect on the images of political violence we are living around us. Using materials tied to Blue Light Junction, and techniques that are traditional to Chilean fiber traditions, each participant will create a small arpillera that documents and honors their testimony. Our practice will highlight how arpilleras are both a formal art object, laden with innovative and endemic fiber techniques, and also a method to identify and self-document political realities using fiber.
Background History
In 1970s Chile, the brutality of right-wing military dictator Augusto Pinochet became known around the world. After a violent coup d’etat of Chile’s previous socialist president, Pinochet’s government terrorized citizens – especially labor activists, Indigenous people, artists, and feminists – through mass incarceration, police violence, torture, exile, forced disappearance, and many other abuses. Groups of working class women began to gather, often clandestinely, to create arpilleras: embroidered quilt collages that depicted scenes of the violence, sorrow, grief, and anger they saw around them. The arpillera became a narrative craft form that narrated the ways Chilean people experienced and resisted state terrorism. Under conditions of extreme censorship, international acquisition and exhibition of arpilleras became a principal mechanism by which those outside of Chile learned of the Pinochet regime. In this way, the arpillera became an “embroidered testimony,” a charismatic craft that helped garner resistance to topple the dictatorship.
Workshop Title: Embroidering Testimonies: Chilean Arpilleras
Venue: Blue Light Junction
Venue Address: 209 McAllister Street, Suite A, Baltimore, MD 21202
Date: Saturday, November 14th
Workshop Time: 12:00 PM–4:00 PM (includes one 30-minute break)
Facilitator: Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida
Participant Fee: Sliding Scale: $35–$60
Pricing:
• $35 (15 seats)
• $60 (15 seats)
Currently, we only accept payments through PayPal. If you would like to use a different payment method, please contact us at bluelightjunction@gmail.com for assistance.
About our sliding Scale
$35
15 spots
Consider paying this amount if you have limited expendable income, have little or no access to financial support from family, have significant debt, and little or no access to savings. This is a discounted rate.
$60
15 spots
Please consider paying this amount if you are comfortably able to meet your basic needs, own the home you live in, have paid or pay for private education, travel recreationally, have access to financial savings and/or investments, have reliable work or do not have to work to meet your needs, have inherited wealth, and/or have increased earning privilege due to your race, gender, or education. This rate sustains me in working with folx who need a lower rate.
Thanks to Orion Johnstone and Worts & Cunning + Sun English for the language for supporting & articulating sliding scale to better support our learning community.
Biography
Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida (b. 2002, Los Angeles) is an experimental ethnographic researcher and textile artist based between Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
Borgsdorf’s research and visual arts work addresses the affective and emotional dimensions of life in Chile and the Chilean diaspora following the right-wing military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) and the formulation of a free trade economy in dictatorial Chile, often called the “cradle of neoliberalism.” Borgsdorf addresses these themes and images using traditional Andean weaving methods and materials critical in the formation of political violence in Chile, such as sheep’s wool, copper, and salt. In addition to his work in basketry and tapestry, Borgsdorf Fuenzalida is known for his “new arpilleras,” expanded fiber and photographic works that utilize the craft aesthetics of the arpillera tradition, embroidered fiber collages pioneered by artists during the Pinochet dictatorship to document political violence.
Borgsdorf’s work has been exhibited at The Phillips Collection, Washington DC; Wolfpack HQ through the Estates of Luchita Hurtado and Lee Mullican, Los Angeles; VisArts, Rockville, Maryland; Hamiltonian Artists, Washington DC; Glen Echo Arts Park, Rockville; IA&A Hillyer Gallery, Washington, DC; Room 3557, Los Angeles; and Washington Studio School. He is a 2025-2027 Hamiltonian Artists Fellow (Washington, DC), was a 2024 Iburra Arts and Research Resident at Blue Light Junction (Baltimore, MD), and was a 2025 Bresler Artist in Residence at VisArts. They have published research at the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Santiago, Chile) and an artist book sold at Art & Book at Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles. He has also taught workshops on arpillera making, weaving, salt sculpture, and natural dyes at institutions across the country, including the Craft Contemporary Museum (Los Angeles), the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA; Baltimore), Southwest Business Improvement District (Washington, DC), VisArts, (Rockville, MD), and Blue Light Junction (Baltimore, MD).
For acquisition, exhibition, and press inquiries, please contact studio@diegoborgsdorf.com.
“Some Kind of Blue” at Studio Blue (concept store upstairs) will also be open for browsing and shopping.
Please Note:
•There are 20 stairs to climb to Studio Blue. We apologize for whatever inconvenience this may cause.
