Subtle states, the Impenetrable

Abstract

In this article we analyze the ways of seeing that are put into play in the project “From the Impenetrable to London” that represented Argentina at the Second London Design Biennial. The curators of the work aimed to give visibility to the ancestral value of artisan textiles and to rescue the community spirit of the Wichi people. The project is made with chaguar fibers collected, spun and dyed by women from the native community. This task is performed by the Wichi women. They link the chaguar and weave bags applying knots and skills learned from their mothers and grandmothers.

We are interested in analyzing the way in which the sensitive emerges from the ancestral textile crafts of the Wichis, and how this activity is made invisible through the design operations imposed by a Western and rationalist way of seeing, making the ancestral value of the crafts invisible. We also analyze how the photographs with which the project is disseminated in the media, highlight the subordination of Wichi women with respect to Mar del Plata designers.