gallery: (dis)robe

(dis)robe is a growing collection of reclaimed, altered and painted garments that explore our culture and heritage, questioning what we choose to wear and to discard, in the contexts of our societies, families, and personal journeys.

(dis)robe: Gaia Gown
A year of plants and insects of the Salish Sea area (and a bit of sea life), painted in graphite and acrylic onto a reclaimed and altered gown. The original gown was worn for a concert given by singer and poet Jude Neale. Branches for the display from birch, willow, apple and rose, near my home.
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This gown explores our human connection (and lack thereof) to the ecology of our home. How do we deify the wilderness while at the same time feeling ourselves to be above it? How are we, in fact, an integral part of it? How can we connect with the seasons as the plants, insects, and other animals do? Where do we find ourselves as humble and holy in the spectrum of our own ecologies?
Exhibited at the Hearth Gallery on Bowen Island/Nex̱wlélex̱wem, April 2023.

 

 (dis)robe: Maternity Wear
Used wedding gown, altered, painted and embellished to explore the choice mothers make to be the comforter/soother/carrier/carer/wearer of our babies. This reclaimed wedding gown includes a gang of painted toddlers climbing up the train, a built-in satin baby-carrier on the back, a plethora of hanging pacifiers, and a torn-open bodice from which protrudes a pregnant belly painted with the hands and face of an escaping, screaming mother.
Model in these images: Jewal Maxwell.
This dress is featured in Karen D. Miller's book, the Art of Mothering: Our Lives in Colour and Shadow, as well as in the Procreate Project Archive, based in Manchester.

(dis)robe: Nursing Gown
This particular gown is my exploration of our cultural heritage around gender, caregiving, and partnership roles.

(dis)robe: Chain Dress
An exploration of heredity, especially of mothering and caregiving roles among girls and women. It may be a chain of bondage or entrapment, but it is also a chain of generational connection.

 

(dis)robe: Support Garment
Worn here with the Lovely Bush prosthetic pubic hair, and in front of a lovely painting by Lluis Garriga Felip at Art! Vancouver 2017. More photos of this dress in the Woman Story section of this gallery, as it was included in that installation as well. It looks into the many others whose support (and hindrance) we choose to accept and deny as we make our many ways through life.