Thursday, July 10, 2025

Embroidery of searching mothers strikes a nerve and goes viral

One of the more poignant stories of Mexico’s crisis of missing people is in the teams of “searching mothers” that have formed all over the country to look for hidden graves, hoping to find the bodies of their lost children.

Now, an artist’s work honoring those mothers has gone viral on social media.

The embroidered piece, part of the exhibition Maternar (Mothering) at the University Museum of Contemporary Art (MUAC) in Mexico City, depicts four women digging with shovels along with the words, “And if I find him or her, then what?”

The artist, Pau Cuarón, posted an image of her work on the social media platform Instagram, and it was widely liked and shared.

“I loved this. It made me cry, it made me sad and very angry, and I felt a great tenderness,” commented one Instagram user.

“These mothers are doing more than any prosecutor has been able to do. They are great women and you [are] great for making such a powerful piece,” another social media user wrote.

Ver esta publicación en Instagram

Una publicación compartida por paucuaron (@paucuaron)

‘And if I find him or her, then what?’ The embroidery on display at a Mexico City museum.

 

Cuarón also shared a fragment of the book In Vitro by Isabel Zapata, which she said inspired her as she worked.

“A little while ago I read the testimony of a woman who, after years searching for her missing daughter, finally was able to hold her remains, which were found in a hidden grave. To the question of how she felt having those bones in her hands, the mother answered that it was like holding a newborn baby,” the book reads.

The MUAC exhibition Maternar features art created over the past two decades and explores themes related to motherhood while moving away from tired stereotypes. The exhibition opened November 20 and runs until June 2022.

With reports from Milenio

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A small plane flies over the ocean

How the Mexican security minister’s slip of the tongue rankled Salvadoran President Bukele

0
President Bukele took exception after García Harfuch's identified a drug-smuggling plane as coming from El Salvador.
gold bars

Highway robbery near Guadalajara nets 6 million pesos worth of gold and silver

0
Such open-road heists have risen in frequency recently and could pose a threat to potential investors otherwise attracted by nearshoring opportunities.
Security chief Omar García Harfuch, Attorney General Gertz and other Mexian officials sit on a stage in front of a banner reading "National Strategy against Extortion" in spanish

Authorities launch national strategy against extortion to tackle a pernicious and widespread crime

0
The strategy contemplates new laws that would force states to investigate the crime, even when victims are too afraid to make an official report.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity