Archive of Vibrant Matter | Serapilheira/Burlap Fabric

Basic Data

Description: Exported from India, Burlap is a very common fabric in Bragança, north of Portugal. In this district, people used "serapilheira" as market bags to stock, reserve, and sell food products or coffee, but also for domestic use to store all kinds of dry food. The material is made of jute plant or from thick pieces of linen, which makes it strong and rough. Also, to make it more interesting, it ages well with some points of red stitches.
Submitted by: Catarina Rodrigues Miranda
Typology: Material
Origin, Location and Movement?: Immigrant (arriving in a location from another; imported)
Address: Bragança, Portugal
Item Relation: Individual Thing
State of abundance: Endangered
Date of creation: Unknown
How was the item encountered or obtained?: Purchased

Socio-cultural Data

Historical Uses

Exported from India, used to store coffee, dry foods, herbs and teas, due to its thickness, firmness and consistency. In the Bragança district, people used serapilheira as market and domestic bags to reserve all kinds of dry foods (rice, potatoes, beans, etc)

Historical Uses · Image / Video / Audio (.jpg, .png, .mp4, .mp3 up to 30MB)

Present Uses

Since this kind of material is at risk of extinction, as it's no longer so common thanks to the expansion of plastic, Serapilheira is no longer used today.

Present Impact

Serapilheira was reinvented and became part of an art exhibition in Bragança called "Disruptive Order", by the israeli Dvora Morag, to unlock old memories about the material.

Present Uses · Image / Video / Audio (.jpg, .png, .mp4, .mp3 up to 30MB)

Centro de Arte Contemporânea Graça Morais, Bragnça, 2017

Experimental, near future uses

Serapilheira may be used for new types of food storage or another type of uses, like shepherds coats.

Technical Data

Class of Material

Composite

Bio-temporal-geographical Data

Residence time (How long does the matter/material/artefact stay in an unaltered state in the location/context/system before it decay?)

Years

How does the item affect the environment in which it exists?

I don't Know

# 0052

Serapilheira/Burlap Fabric

Material, Individual Thing, Endangered, Purchased, Other, Composite, Years