Claudia Alarcón and Silät Are Weaving a New Kind of Fiber Art

When she was 12, Claudia Alarcón learned the yica stitch, which doubles as both a loop of yarn and a form of knowledge in the Wichí tradition. For generations, Wichí women in Argentina and Bolivia have taught their daughters and granddaughters the process of creating these stitches; Alarcón learned from her mother and her grandmother. More than two decades on, she still makes yica-based weavings.To a Western onlooker, yica appear unassuming: they result in weaves that