A BLANKET FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

In Spanish, a cobija is a blanket, and cobijar means to give shelter, to offer refuge or to protect someone. It is a verb, an action. That is why Borrás like to make blankets from fabric scraps: for me, making a blanket has a great symbolic meaning. And that is why she decided to make one in response to the Navigating Risk, Managing Security, and Receiving Support project at York University with a double meaning: human rights defenders protect us, but people also need to protect, shelter and take care of them. They need to give visibility to the work they do, as well as the risks they face and the way they deal with them. The definition of blanket in Spanish includes the idea of containing something that is not manifest or visible to all, that is covered up. This blanket [whose images are part of the selection of artistic works for Sur 30] contains pieces of clothing that belonged to defenders in Mexico from the cities of Puebla, Teocelo and Monterrey (located in the states of Puebla, Veracruz and Nuevo León, respectively), which are the content hidden in it.