Claudia Alarcón, a Wichí artist from Argentina, learned the traditional yica stitch from her mother and grandmother at age 12. Her weavings, created in collaboration with the all-female collective Silät, were a standout at the 2024 Venice Biennale, earning critical praise from Barry Schwabsky in The Nation. The works are now featured in a solo show at James Cohan Gallery in New York, as well as in Brazil’s Bienal do Mercosul, and will travel to the De La Warr Pavilion in England, the Museo de Arte de São Paulo, and the Guggenheim Bilbao.
This recognition marks a breakthrough for the Wichí people, who have been marginalized by the Argentine government and whose textile traditions have long been dismissed as craft rather than fine art. Alarcón’s success challenges Western hierarchies of art and craft, and her visibility in major institutions and biennials signals a growing inclusion of Indigenous knowledge systems in the contemporary art world. Curator Andrei Fernández has been instrumental in elevating their work, aiming to correct the erasure of Indigenous art from art-historical narratives.