Feliciano Centurión was born in San Ignacio in southern Paraguay, an environment defined by the coexistence of indigenous Guarani and Catholic cultures, and lastingly affected by the devastation of the Triple Alliance War, in which 90% of the male population were killed. Centurión was raised by his mother and grandmother, from whom he learnt the crafts of sewing, crochet and ñanduti (a Guarani work for ‘spiderweb’), a handmade lace based on styles imported from the Canary Islands during colonisation.

Working in post-dictatorship Buenos Aires in the 1990s, Centurión became a core member of the Arte Light group, whose work took a turn away from the socio-political to focus on the intimate and subjective. Centurión’s textile work paid homage to Guaraní weaving techniques and historically feminine crafts, queering traditions passed down from mothers to daughters in Paraguay for generations, and drawing upon the functions and the poetic values of textile: sewing as a means to repair; textile craft as a therapeutic act; blankets and pillowcases as objects of comfort.

Through his battle with AIDS, textile art offered a means to convert his experiences into objects of beauty, created with tender care and providing a focal point for feelings of hope and love. He began embroidering domestic and personal textile objects with aphorisms of love, abstract thoughts and religious references, exposing intimate emotions in a direct way. In contrast to his early work, which is joyful and exuberant in its embrace of kitsch aesthetics, the works produced towards the end of his life are much more pared back. During his illness, he took to embroidering objects within reach, including his pillowcases. 'Añoranza [Longing]' reflects this urgency to continue to express himself.

‘Añoranza [Longing]’ is illustrated in the catalogue for Abrigo (2020), the artist’s first solo exhibition outside Latin America at the Americas Society in New York. Curator Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro writes: ‘In a career defined by various forms of marginalization, from his Paraguayan origins to his sexuality to his interest in popular and folk traditions, Centurión’s form of activism and resistance was intimate and affective, focusing on love, spirituality, and humor—the shelter, or abrigo, that art can provide in a hostile world.’