‘WORLDBUILDING’
What happens to the worlds of our childhood when we grow up? As a child, I constantly brought every piece of media I consumed into my own daydreams. I would use these imaginary worlds, often conglomerations of movies, video games, and books alike, to cope with my mental health and anxiety as I tackled moving shools, loosing friends, and coming out.
As I became an adult, I thought that I would eventually grow out of these mental spaces, and find new (read: cooler) coping mechanisms. But as I studied through college, worked various jobs, and tackled adult interpersonal relationships, I began to realise that I relied on these childhood stories more than ever as safe spaces to retreat to.
This collection is meant to highlight these two contrasting values. Heavy, ‘adult’, restrictive elements of this collection, such as corsetry, cement and steel beading, lacing, and chainmail help to weigh down and restrict the flowing dresses of the escapist, fantasy worlds of my childhood. Even further, these worlds are represented by the use of natural dyes and playful techniques such as dye paint, bundle dyeing, beading, embroidery, couching, smocking, and felting. The circle and the playful line are constant representations of my meandering imagination, both as adult and child.
Each piece becomes unqiue through not only it’s silhouette, but also it’s careful attention to dyeing detail and research, the legends and creatures that inspired it, and it’s surface embellishment through varying techniques.