A Practice-Based Study of Students' Lived Experience in Ernesto Aroztegui's Weaving Workshop (mid 1960s-mid 1980s)

Abstract

The textile art movement of the 1960s to the 1980s in Uruguay was a remarkable phenomenon for a country with no known textile tradition. Within the context of sociopolitical upheaval which characterized this time-period, Ernesto Aroztegui's workshop had a central role in the flourishing of the movement. As one of the pioneers in Uruguayan textile art, Aroztegui approached tapestry-weaving understanding the designer and the weaver to be embodied by the same person, moving away from more traditional takes on the craft. This notion, which he later passed on to his students, was influenced by the way post-World War II Polish weavers like Abakanowicz, Sadley, and Owidzka worked as well as the experience of Egyptian architect Wissa Wassef teaching tapestry-weaving to children in Harrania. The lack of original research done on the textile art movement of Uruguay and its participants, however, has left it in the dark. Focusing on Aroztegui's students, the purpose of this research project is to consider what aspects of those original lived experiences can still be accessed today, thus giving the textile art movement its due recognition by fostering a conversation about it. The research questions that guided the work were two: What are Aroztegui's former students' lived experiences of attending his workshop during the 1960s-1980s? How does my lived experience of being a student in an iteration of that workshop correspond with those individuals' lived experiences? Looking at the research topic through a phenomenological lens, a semi-structured interview was designed to access the lived experience of the participants. The practice-based approach I took to the research, in the shape of an autoethnography of my participation in an iteration of Aroztegui's weaving workshop taught by one of his former students, allowed me to consider my own lived experience and develop my position as researcher. Because of it I became less of an outsider in connection to the research topic. This two-fold approach shortened the distance between the participants' lived experience then and mine now, opening a space of reflection around the textile art movement and its legacy. A sensible approach to the weaving workshop emerged from the participants' lived experience as well as from my own. That sensibility appeared as an inherent part of how the workshop was, and still is, led. Other components like the enriching conversation, the demanding nature of the weaving practice, and the overall sense of camaraderie were also identified as essential to how the weaving workshop was, and still is, understood. The nature of Aroztegui's workshop was characterized by these components, as was also the iteration of the workshop I participated in. Even though the sociopolitical context varied drastically (from a time of sociopolitical unrest during the 1960s-1980s to current times as I conducted this research project from 2022 to 2024), it did not affect the strong sense of belonging-of being part of a community-the weaving workshop nurtured, and nurtures, in people. By looking at Aroztegui's students' lived experience of attending his weaving workshop and considering them alongside my own lived experience, this research project brought the textile art movement closer to present time. The fluidity inherent to lived experience makes the outcome of this research project not a static thing, but an opening into spaces of discussion about the textile art movement, alongside everything it entailed, with the potential to keep growing.