inquiry task

'Vanitas: Flesh Dress For an Albino Anorectic' 

Jana Sterbak 1987

A recurring theme within my work has always been experimenting with materials and using them in an unconventional way. When studying costume design I experimented a lot with casting and using materials in different ways to create a desired effect on a garment.  This concept I have continued to investigate and propose that one of my lines of inquiry should look in to the materiality of a product. How does the viewer/user alter the way in which they interact with the product when its material make up is changed?  Does this alter the form and function of the artefact?  Other artists have tackled these questions; artists such as Jana Sterbak, she made a series of work referred to as her wearable pieces. In particular he piece entitled ‘Vanitas: Flesh Dress For and Albino Anorectic.’ She stitches together 60 pound of meat to create a dress. By using meat instead of fabric it changed the way that the viewer interacts with an item that they are already familiar with (a dress).  It also asks us to think about how women are objectified, they are thought of as ‘pieces of meat’ and how the fashion industry has encouraged us to believe that ‘you are what you wear’.  The piece, when exhibited is left to hang on a mannequin and rot alongside a photograph of Sterbak wearing fresh ‘flesh dresses.  As the piece rots it encouraged the viewer to think about their own mortality and the alienation of our own flesh throughout the ageing process. I wonder if Lady Gaga put this much thought into it when she wore her meat dress?

Lady Gaga at MTV music awards September 2010

Meret Oppenheim made a series of surrealist pieces whereby she took items that were at the time traditionally associated with feminine decorum and covered them with fur. In doing this she altered not only their function but their also their meaning; these easily recognisable objects were transformed into more sensual, sexual objects.

'Breakfast in Fur' Meret Oppenheim 1936

Another perspective that you could approach this investigation from (one that excites me equally as much as the previous one) is from a more fashion based angle. Designers have often experimented with unconventional materials to manipulate a garment’s form or functionality. Very often it is the case that runway shows and fashion week collections are created as a performance and the desired outcome is not always to display garments that can be mass produced and worn.  Two of my favourite designers who have worked in this way are Issey Miyake and Alexander McQueen. These designers often pushed the boundaries of fashion not only with their designs by how they executed their shows.

 Fashion for centuries has been a very important factor in our lives and something that we have extensively experimented with through style and material, encouraging this experimentation to alter the form of the garment, but how much has we allowed materials to alter our physical form?  This is something that I have briefly looked into and a topic that very much interests me and would like to investigate further.

In conclusion the main theme of this inquiry would be materials how we use and manipulated them to portray different messages, and how we allow them to alter and manipulate us.