“Alfombreras: history of a textile identity is a work focused on family memory in which objects, professions and, of course, the testimonies of the people who lived at that time play a very important role.
The project by the artist Marcos Vidal Font, grandson of the former owner of the carpet factory Alfombras Vidal, Joan Vidal Rosselló, starting from contemporary art position, he wants to investigate, learn about and interact with what the implementation of this handcraft carpet manufacturing in Palma, Sineu and Alcúdia meant. People who for several generations were craftswomen of hand-knotted carpets, on a loom, with wool. The underlying idea is that there is a textile memory, a link that connects personal or collective identity with textile motifs and designs. The performances, wooden sculptures, assembly of found objects that will be exhibited are inspired by this textile memory.
Sculptures and performance by Vidal, films by Françoise Polo, with cinematographer Micky Cabot, music by Marko Bussian and photographic and textile documentation archive compiled for the exhibition, in some cases lent by the artisans themselves.
The project approaches family memory through the recognition and re-contextualization of handcraft work, first producing the works with a creation grant from the Institut d’Estudis Balearics, and then producing the exhibition with the Mallorca Council.
The task of documentation, dating and location of the main points established in Palma, Alcúdia and Sineu is taken care of by Lourdes Melis, assistant professor at the UIB and expert in museology and cultural heritage, who has written the catalogue. However, they do not want to lose sight of the objective of writing the local history, about the people who dedicated their working lives to it. In addition to recalling curiosities such as, in the case of Sineu, when the factory was separated from the main one, practically all production was exported to the United States under the Patterson, Flynn & Martin brand of New York.
In 1988, the Vidal carpet factory closed, located – those who are more than 40 years old will remember, where the sa Fàbrica restaurant is now and until recently the 23 pub, opposite to the railway station. Since then, some of the material has remained in boxes in the rooms or lost in a drawer. Almost forty years later, the memory of the workers and the reunion with this preserved material will revive the tragedy that was cut short when the Americans no longer wanted carpets Made in Sineu.
For both Vidal and Melis, the exhibition represents a starting point to increase the contribution of living witnesses to the archive of the memory of industrial craftsmanship in Mallorca.
The exhibition will be at the Capella de la Misericòrdia. It can be visited until October 31st.”
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