University of Creative Arts Epsom
March 2009
As we often meet up in Epsom for a coffee and chat, we decided to look in on the exhibition advertised in Embroidery . From a brief look at the article by Lesley Millar, Curator at Epsom UCA, I was prepared for a strange presentation, but not quite what was offered.
Within the UCA, entering a grey mausoleum -like gallery, one was confronted by a white wall, with hundreds of embroidered name tapes attached in rows, white thread for ‘unknown’, red for those known to have been abused and murdered in Mexico, mainly in Juarez.
Behind the wall, three video screens in front of low tables with Spanish speaking audio headphones and books of explanation. printed in English and Spanish. There were very disturbing pictures of groups searching for buried missing women and chilling sub titles in English for us to read. We then looked again at the name tags, worked in 22 countries, inspired by Lise Bjoine Linnert, a Norwegian living in Texas who became concerned by the situation created by drug trafficking across the US/Mexican border and set up the workshops.
We came away confused by the presentation and a shocked by what we had seen. As often happens, the same night, I heard a broadcast about the dire situation in Juarez and the (not very effective) attempts by the US authorities to tackle drug-running and violence from the Mexican side. Hilary Clinton made a high profile visit, it is obviously a very sensitive political issue .I have heard little more since, but the atrocities continue and more tags will be added. The impact of the exhibition sadly remains with me.