Perla del Oeste (Pearl of the west)

During the lockdown months, I really missed the landscape of my city, Rafaela, also known as “the pearl of the west” or “heart of the milk region”. Embroidery is a very slow activity that helps me kill time and stop thinking. I learnt the craft from my grandmother Lía. I like knitting because I am interested in its links with history: the Andean communities used knitting as a counting method, to build bridges, and bury their dead. My grandmother embroiders and knits to make gifts and my grandfather was a tailor. Textile works transform the contexts and daily spaces. A hand-made piece on a table, on the floor or covering a head transform the space to be used with ritual purposes, like a tablecloth for a supper. When we were separated, in the wild Pampas I frantically dreamt about my pearl of the west.