UNPACKED
After my grandmother passed, her belongings were disbursed amongst the family. I received jewelry, cookware, and unexpectedly her clothing which was comprised of assorted blouses, sweaters, jeans, jackets, socks, and shoes. Her wardrobe was casual; she didn't own expensive or luxurious items. All the same, they became treasured objects and serve as keepsakes - markers of the person I knew and loved. Knowing that these items cannot be replaced, they have been preserved in safe storage. To me, these items embody preciousness and serve as reminders of presence, loss, and absence.
In this body of work, I have chosen to represent particular articles of my grandmother’s clothing and address the act of maintaining and storing these clothes as they transform from wearable objects into two-dimensional interpretations. No longer intended to be worn, these iterations are meant to reflect on the person who chose and wore them. This body of work began from an exploration of the sentiment, memory, and intimate connections I felt from my grandmother’s clothes: however, it has since evolved into a discussion about material, construction, preservation, and the act of keeping.
Clothing, in its rawest form, is a tactile collection of fibers crafted to be worn and personalized. Fabric retains memory, the wear remains visible, and the wrinkles are evidence of its history. By constructing these articles of clothing in paper, I am calling attention to a sense of imitation or artifice – they mimic the original item of clothing but could never be the real object. I construct works using differing kinds of paper, low relief layers, drawing, and printed colors and patterns to loosely imitate fabric textures. This is meant to evoke the honesty of the object and simultaneously admit to its artifice. The paper constructions are folded, hung, or resting within a void of negative space, calling attention to the absence of the wearer, backed by the vertical orientation which alludes to portraiture. The physicality of the objects, constructed with layers of paper that create shallow areas of relief, represents the presence and lingering gesture of the wearer. Gesture for me in these pieces refers to the wear embedded into the fabrics. It alludes to the lingering aura that I feel with their physical counterparts. Each paper construction is made to be life size, allowing the viewer to feel as if they could exist in the same space, touch, or wear the imitated articles of clothing.
This body of work is envisioned as a collection, a compilation of relic-like objects that hold sentimental value to me and embody memory and aura. I ask my viewers to consider that a collection can take on many different forms and serve different purposes. Collections can preserve memory, family history, sentiment, and personal connections to a loved one. My collection is about personal sentiment, remembrance, and care. These objects represent things that I chose to take home, to wear, and to serve as a remembrance of my grandmother; something to touch, to hold, and to put away for safe keeping so it can be returned to again and again. This collection is a reminder of absences I’ve experienced and serves as a reflection of the lingering presence embedded into the fibers of these once worn, felt, and lived-in articles of clothing.
