D CONTEMPORARY
STITCHING WHAT CANNOT BE SAID: TEXTILE WORKSHOP WITH JIMENA PARDO AND CONFLICT TEXTILES
18 November 1-4 pm
D Contemporary invites the public to The Silent Vocal Language of Textiles, a hands-on workshop led by textile artist Jimena Pardo with Roberta Bacic, founder and curator of Conflict Textiles and Visiting Professor at Ulster University. The workshop follows D Contemporary’s exhibition of the same name (18 September – 5 October 2026), which brought works from the internationally recognised Conflict Textiles collection to London.
Around the world, women and communities have used cloth, thread and appliqué to bear witness when speaking out was difficult or dangerous. Chilean arpilleras, three-dimensional textiles made by women in Latin America as testimony during periods of political violence and social upheaval, sit at the heart of the collection alongside Irish quilts and textiles from many other places.
Participants will look closely at selected works from the collection and discuss what they communicate without words. Jimena Pardo will then demonstrate simple stitching and appliqué techniques, and each person will make a small textile panel telling a personal or shared story. The afternoon closes with the panels laid out together.
No sewing experience is needed and all materials are provided. Places are limited and booking is essential.
“To open the discussions, which some participants found difficult, we decided to show a Peruvian arpillera made by displaced women, from both sides of the conflict, who designed and made the arpillera together and used as their testimony to the Truth Commission.”
Roberta Bacic, founder and curator, Conflict Textiles, on the meetings in Belfast from which the collection grew
JIMENA PARDO
Jimena Pardo is an artist, community facilitator, and teacher. Jimena studied Fine Art Painting and Art for Society at Wolverhampton University and completed a PGCE in Art and Design at Middlesex University.
Since February 2018 she has facilitated workshops for the project ‘Bordando por la Memoria’ –Embroidering Memory. A collaborative textile and memory project with the Chilean exiled community is an ongoing project.
Her current art practices include making banners, arpilleras, embroideries, working with recycled materials, using stitching, painting, screen printing, lino printing, and weaving to explore themes of self, memory, community, loss, and human connections.
THE COLLECTION
Conflict Textiles began with The Art of Survival: International and Irish Quilts, an exhibition held across nine venues in Derry~Londonderry in 2008. It was developed by Derry City Council Heritage and Museum Services, The Junction and guest curator Roberta Bacic. A lasting collaboration followed between Derry City Council’s Tower Museum, Ulster University and Roberta Bacic, leading to further exhibitions, workshops and community projects.
Today the collection comprises 440 fully documented textiles, held and documented at CAIN, Ulster University. Works have been shown in museums, galleries and cultural institutions worldwide, including Tate Modern, London, in a 2020 programme exploring Chilean arpilleras as artistic expression, testimony and resistance.
INFORMATION
What: The Silent Vocal Language of Textiles: a textile workshop with Jimena Pardo and Conflict Textiles
When: Wednesday 18 November 2026, 1–4pm
Where:D Contemporary, 1 Birdcage Walk, London [postcode]
Price: FREE
Booking: info@dcontemporary.com
THE STORY BEHIND CONFLICT TEXTILES
Conflict Textiles is an internationally recognised collection of textile art exploring conflict, human rights, memory and resistance through the voices and experiences of communities around the world.
The collection began with The Art of Survival: International and Irish Quilts, an exhibition held across nine venues in Derry~Londonderry in 2008.
Developed through a collaboration between Derry City Council Heritage and Museum Services, The Junction, and guest curator Roberta Bacic, the exhibition brought together Irish quilts, international textiles and Chilean arpilleras — three-dimensional textiles created by women in Latin America as a form of testimony during periods of political violence and social upheaval.
Explaining the origins of this initiative, Roberta Bacic reflects:
“During 2006 and 2007 Quaker House Belfast asked me to facilitate a series of meetings with women from different backgrounds to discuss issues related to dealing with the past that had affected their lives. To open the discussions, which some participants found difficult, we decided to show a Peruvian arpillera made by displaced women, from both sides of the conflict, who designed and made the arpillera together and used as their testimony to the Truth Commission. Out of this grew the idea of contacting quilt makers in Ireland and Northern Ireland to see how they had represented the conflict in their work. At the time Helen Quigley, then Mayor of Derry, attended one of the presentations of the Peruvian arpillera and asked me to bring a display of quilts, arpilleras and wall-hangings to Derry in the context of International Women’s Day 2008. From that initial idea the Art of Survival exhibition was developed.”
The exhibition grew from conversations facilitated by Roberta Bacic with women from different backgrounds in Northern Ireland about dealing with the legacy of conflict. The powerful storytelling of a Peruvian arpillera, created by displaced women as a collective testimony, inspired further exploration of how textile makers had represented experiences of conflict, loss and survival.
Following the success of The Art of Survival, a lasting collaboration developed between Derry City Council’s Tower Museum, Ulster University and Roberta Bacic, leading to further exhibitions, workshops and community engagement projects. Selected works from the collection were displayed at the Tower Museum and the Guildhall between 2015 and 2016.
As the collection and activities expanded, a digital archive was created as early as 2008 to document the textiles, exhibitions and associated activities. The Conflict Textiles live website was launched in 2015, providing global access to this growing archive of textile testimonies.
