graded unit.
For this unit I was able to start from scratch and look at something completely different to what I had worked on previously. Therefore starting from the brief of "Ritual and Commemoration" I started to look at my own history and the influence my grandmothers have had on me in particular. This led me to start recreating certain dresses they have worn when they were my age, while combining the meaningful links of their stories to my own life. I achieved this by capturing the appearance of the original dress with the addition of stories and messages sewn into the design. In one instance, throughout the layers of the tulle underskirt, and in the other printed all over the dress in the symbolic yellow of the original.
I have never sewed before, therefore learning from scratch and instructing the dresses has been a very interesting technique that I will continue to use in the future.
There is more information and development of the dresses I have made with detailed photography at the bottom of this page.
This is the original photograph of my granny. (she is the one on the right in the photograph). This was the first dress I recreated.
When combining the original image and the my recreated photo, it creates a strange optical illusion, where you are not necessarily sure who it is any more. Therefore blurring the lines between us and you realise how alike we appear....
This is another original photograph this time of my grandma. (she is the one on the right in the photograph). Instead of using a yellow fabric I used a different colour with yellow detailing to create a similar overall appearance but with my added concepts.
When combining the original image and the my recreated photo, it creates a strange optical illusion, where you are not necessarily sure who it is any more. Therefore blurring the lines between us and you realise how alike we appear....
Additionally, I created a tulle underskirt to create a fuller skirt. I was able to use my granny's original handwriting to print stories onto fabric and then stitch these into the layers of the skirt. The idea that it looks like an ordinary dress but has this meaning stitched inside, encompasses the similarities between me and my grandparents with so much hidden influence that they have given me over my life.
For this dress, using the colour yellow to write the story is meant to relate back to the original colour of the dress. Just as if the stories told by my grandma are what makes this dress yellow.
As part of the project I also completed a development dress to help me improve with my sewing. It also gave me an opportunity to experiment with embroidery and different printing techniques that I could then go on to use in my resolved pieces.
