Autoethnographic reflections on embroidery, suffering, and collective healing practices

Abstract

This article examines embroidery as an epistemic, pedagogical, artistic, and healing practice from a feminist perspective situated in Latin America. Using an autoethnographic approach, it discusses the project Bordar para sanar (Embroidering to Heal), launched in 2019, which understands embroidery as a creative and political tool for reflecting on pain and chronic depression, while also opening up a space to consider the possibilities of collective care and healing. It also presents the feminist pedagogical exercise Las telarañas que nos sostienen (The Webs That Sustain Us), developed through workshops in Mexico and Central America, which enables participants to map networks of care and support in contexts of vulnerability. Through a genealogy of textile experiences—from Afro-descendant quilts and Chilean arpilleras to the headscarves of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo—the article analyzes how embroidery has functioned as both language and material support, as well as a vehicle for memory, resistance, and denunciation in the face of colonial, patriarchal, and state violence. It argues that embroidery not only supports individual healing but also constitutes a feminist methodology and an artistic practice capable of producing knowledge, fostering affective bonds while enabling processes of resistance and transgression.