Healing


A collection of wearable and thoughtful textiles, 2021

Exhibited as part of Australian Eastern Daylight Time: RMIT Bachelor of Fashion and Textiles Design Graduate Exhibition
The relationship between textiles and the human body is one of co-dependence. Textiles aid the healing of our bodies; they bind, cast, wrap and hold us. Simultaneously, they rely on our care to prolong their lifespan and prevent inevitable pathways to decay. My work is inspired by transformative bodily processes such as bruising, bleeding and breaking, and the blurred boundary between textiles and human skin. I work with upcycled fiber collaging and historical repair techniques with careful consideration of the long-term stability of each piece.






Grafted Jacket. Patchworked and hand-quilted shell of upcycled cellulose fibre dyed with Rubia Tinctorum, cotton batting, repurposed viscose lining. Jacket with skin grafts. Its outer layer of aged skin will eventually be regerated and replaced by a fresh inner layer. Patchwork of found linen, cotton, and hemp, some dyed with Rubia Tinctorum (madderroot). Hand-quilted with cotton, imperfections mended with gold thread. Inner layers of cotton wadding and slippery viscose. Vest with a soft bruise. Its shoulders have been completed healed. Hand-knitted intarsia with alpaca, wool, silk, and mohair yarn. Dress with healing scars. Tissue thin silk with a little area which seems to get burnt often. Singed silk organza mended with silk thread and dyed with Rubia Tinctorum (madderroot). Shirt with a hard bruise. Its skin is stretched tight over the bone, the old blood is close to the surface. Spray-painted silk organza, mother of pearl buttons, silk and polyester threads. Crumpled together. Clockwise from top left: jacket with skin grafts, shirt with a hard bruise, dress with healing scars, vest wit a soft bruise.