Your Second Hand
2021 - Collection Exhibited at Fremantle Art Centre
Concept
Second hand garments are installed. Each item of clothing has a written omen “by wearing this garment you will unconsciously inherit certain thoughts and behaviours from the previous owner" above full real name and portrait of the pervious owner sewn into tags in the clothing. The audience are able to donate and/or keep an item of clothing. Some of the items on display have embroidered scenes from the lives of previous owners sewn into the garments.
Audience
Wider public. Better fit for festival audience who are more likely to return with donated garments if located in central festival hub, as they naturally return to other festival events nearby.
Space
Very flexible for size in the space, flexible in installation arrangements.
Can be scaled back, sometimes put in a back room making space for other events if need be.
May need back room temp storage for any clothing overflow.
History
PREVIOUS
This work has been exhibited in Melbourne in Gertrude Contemporary - 2019 and Fremantle Arts Centre 2021.
COLLECTION SYSTEMS
Collection system via donation, QR code as demonstrated here when shown at Fremantle Arts Centre
Attendants
An attended is needed to help people donate and receive clothing. Additionally, a number of garments have been stolen in the past
from this work, attendant is necessary to also monitor theft.
Installation
The garments can be placed on racks.
Benefits
- Media-enticing spectacle of turning venue into a weird OPSHOP.
- Opshopping is a part Australian arts culture. Artists tend to be big opshoppers here, not just because of the cheapness of the clothes, but also because artists can hunt to find unique items, while donating to charity and recycling. Ticking many boxes.
- Looking closely into the worn clothing of Perth people is also looking closely into a slice of Perth's collective personal identity.
- Highly engaged work, direct interaction with the community.
- Audiences can get free art and clothes, recycled gifts. When audiences can take and wear something from such a place, this gives a chance to reconnect with the community in an intimate way. These clothes can kept and worn for years and whenever worn, can serve as a reminder not only of the previous owner of the clothing but also reconnection with and this connection can help foster ongoing connection for future audiences.
- It's a work that the "general public" may connect with physically and psychologically without an elaborate knowledge of art history.
- It encourages recycling.
- Relevance, may highlight WA border closure, and Perth community becoming closer (literally wearing portraits of each-other and cursed/blessed to become each-other).
- It pushes us to rethink transference in handling and wearing belongings of others.
- Possibility for racks of clothes to be displayed outside the front of the gallery, further enticing viewers passing by and surprise them as they may first assume this may be a traditional items for sale (which they are not, or not quite).
Challenges
- System for donating and collecting to be negotiated.
- Online donation systems.
Accomodations for Covid
- Entire work could happen online. Donations and orders all available online.
- Well photographed online catalogue of garments (with portrait tags in view) and perhaps also some pages with images of the people who bought them (with consent).