Pipes

Project type:

Part of second year body of work

Materials:

Organza, leather, resist print

Date:

2023

This project is inspired by the power station I could see out of my childhood bedroom window. Like the rest of the body of work I am producing in my thesis it deals with the topic of loss of home and "motherland".

With this garment, I am emulating clouds of steam that would come out of the giant pipes of the power station. As a kid, I loved watching the slow metamorphosis of the vapors as the massive columns rose to the skies in the winter. As elusive as clouds, the fond memories of home that I have left can never be captured or confined in the same place again.

Currently, I am experimenting with baking fabric to make it retain certain shapes, layering sheer fabrics on top of each other for the illusion of depth, and treating waxed fabric with graphite for the illusion of metal.

For this garment I tested a variety of printing techniques and stopped on resist dying.

I wanted the materials to maintain their sheerness so I developed this print that resembles clouds of smoke. To achieve the result I lay down threads and use fabric spray paint to create a negative impression of them. I used this method for the top cutouts and leather straps.