"Que en nuestras almas no entre el terror" and other textile works by Feliciano Centurión

Feliciano Centurión was a Paraguayan textile artist. Centurión grew up in a matriarchal household; his mother and grandmother taught him to sew, and he learned traditional skills including ñandutí (a Paraguayan lace technique). Centurión's artistic creations defied gender standards, as working with textiles was historically considered feminine. Following unrest in Paraguay, Centurión moved to Argentina and began producing work that intimately explored nature, domesticity and the home, and his identity as a queer man.

Centurión's early artistic period was defined by paintings on large blankets, mainly depicting natural forms and animals such as tigers and alligators. Incorporating a playful, kitschy style, Centurión explored his queerness and championed personal expression. After Centurión's diagnosis with HIV, his focus shifted to smaller pieces incorporating text and embroidery elements. His piece “Sacrificial Lamb” is particularly arresting, depicting a scene of a stabbed lamb on a pedestal. Other works synergize political defiance with emotional statements, incorporating phrases such as “I am alive!” and “I am a soul in pain.” Centurión's short but impactful career speaks to the AIDS crisis and offers a glimpse into the Latin American LGBTQ+ community's experiences with alienation, self–actualization, and pain in the 1990s.

Sources:

https://www.ortuzar.com/exhibitions/feliciano-centurion/works?view=slider#12

https://brooklynrail.org/2020/05/artseen/Abrigo/

https://www.artforum.com/events/feliciano-centurion-247583/

https://islaa.org/exhibitions/partner-2023-feb-dhe-centurion

https://blanton.emuseum.com/objects/16958/cordero-sacrificado-sacrificed-lamb