I wanted to create the idea of 'searching' within my garment to reflect the relatives still searching the desert today. These are elements of my final garment that are placed on an A-line skirt underneath a circle skirt. 

Making A Garment

Toile pattern of dress with integrated weave bodice. 

Centre back with hair behind hessian.

Contrasting the colours of the weave to make the pattern stand out.
Bone necklace added.

Elements on A-line skirt underneath top skirt. Latex footprint

Adding contrasting salt crystals. 

Resin hanging off twine, wrapped around bone necklace.

Centre back with human hair and porcelain squares. 

Dress coming together. 

Resin

The people who are still searching for their relatives also hold protests as to why the government continue to hide the truth about how and why these people 'disappeared'. These relatives pose questions to the government such as "where are they?" which is often the subject of demonstrations. I wanted to incorporate this within my work to raise awareness and pose questions for my audience. I created these pieces usin resin and cut out paper with Donde Estan on. As I used clear resins these pieces work best when the natural day light shines through which highlights the question. 

Fabric Weave

Salt crystals, hessian, canvas with a map of the Atacama transferred on to it. 

Weave fabric pieces rather than weaving on a loom?

Foot

Porcelain bone pieces post kiln. I dipped them into coffee to add a sense of age and decay. I intend to make a necklace out of the pieces that will be worn alongside the final garment.

Textile samples in response to artist Alberto Burri who uses themes such as torture and death within his work. 

Developed Salt Crystals

Developed salt experiments inspired by the work of Burri. I could prehaps combine these experiments with the clear white salts to reflect two perceptions of the Atacama; my tourist perception of natural beauty, and the searching women perceptions of death and torture.

 coffee, tea and rusty nails added to the salted water. Ready to evaporate! 

The nails left behind marks that could reflect torture and scars. The tea turned black - represent death and decay? 

Salt crystals on different backgrounds and textures. 

Image Impasto Transfer

Experiments using impasto to transfer photographs of the 'disappeared' onto different surfaces and textures.

Impasto transfer onto a woven piece. I admire the distortion of the images when transferred onto a rough texture, i feel this creates a lack of identity within the image which is somewhat relevant for those unfound. 

Porcelain Squares

To develop the initial response to the work of Boltanski, I transferred the profile photographs onto clay and porcelain squares. The porcelain with oxides added the sense of age and distortion I wanted to reflect as the images look like they have been 'lost and found'.

Typography

I wanted to encoporte Spanish text within my work to emphasises the Chilean culture. Using text taken from the Londres 38 (a building where people were taken to be tortured under the military government) I experimented with different ways I could include it within textile samples.

Woven pieces of paper with text.

Sellotape transferred text stitched onto canvas with human hair. Glue highlights key words.

Paper text covered with bees wax rolled up and added to a woven piece.

Huesos

Today I made bone pieces from porcelain that represent bones of the foot, as one of the women who search for their loved ones, found a foot of her brother, held it and cried. I intend to make a necklace of these pieces to represent this in my final piece. PRE KILN.

Boltanski

To incorporate the victims still missing into my work, I created this sample in response to artist Christian Boltanski. I had briefly researched the work of Boltanski in my previous project as he use of translating controversial themes are inspiring. He uses profile photographs of victims of the holocaust in his work. This piece was created by using impasto to transfer photographs of the disappeared onto hessian fabric. I used human to connect the images which reflects the natural environment of the desert. I feel this sample needs developing as the transfer onto hessian does not translate image clarity and age.