On Clothing. The Visible Self
Posted on April 04 2022
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Authors Silvia Colombo, Antonio Muratore
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On Clothing. The Visible Self │ March 17th - April 22nd, 2022
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The cultural codes within which we define ourselves through our image, generate the language used for the realization of inter-individual exchanges that may be defined as "relations in public" (Goffman E.). Every human being develops an attitude towards self-representation, this self-representation concerns itself with different fields and languages, such as the way one dresses. Extension of the self, expression of our "modus vivendi", the dress is a cultural product that concerns our identity, linked to historical, cultural and personal continuity, through which it is possible to affirm one's individuality, and communicate and inform others on ourselves.
On Clothing. The Visible Self exhibition presents photographic works who tackle such a subject in its various fields of interest: from sociology to fashion; from the anthropology of costumes to that of psychological introspection.
On Clothing. The Visible Self exhibition presents photographic works who tackle such a subject in its various fields of interest: from sociology to fashion; from the anthropology of costumes to that of psychological introspection.
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Michael Svizzero, Wrestler / Erotic Stares, 2020
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Clothes we wear are usually the result of a conscious decision. We see them, we try them and, if we find them suitable, we buy them by adding them to our “private collection”. In that sense, every garment is the immediate expression of what we are - or, better, of what we aspire to, the way we want to appear to our eyes and to be seen by others.
When we wear a dress, we intend to communicate with a precise code, we use the language of fashion as the first element of connection with “the other” as well as with the environment all around us.
Given the importance and the versatility of this sector, it is no coincidence that the fashion industry has been, over time, ground for transitions and intersections, interweavings and overlaps.
Art and fashion, for example, often benefit from this exchange. Sometimes the artists are foraying into fashion - see the collaboration between Salvador Dalí and Elsa Schiaparelli -, some other times the fashion designers are getting inspired by art - see the Mondrian Dress (1965) by Yves Saint Laurent for example. Still other times, the artists make allusions to fashion within their works with the intention to reflect - such as Pistoletto’s “Venus of the Rags” (1967) - or to denounce something - like the “anti-fast fashion” murals accomplished by the Polish street artist Igor Dobrowolski.
When we wear a dress, we intend to communicate with a precise code, we use the language of fashion as the first element of connection with “the other” as well as with the environment all around us.
Given the importance and the versatility of this sector, it is no coincidence that the fashion industry has been, over time, ground for transitions and intersections, interweavings and overlaps.
Art and fashion, for example, often benefit from this exchange. Sometimes the artists are foraying into fashion - see the collaboration between Salvador Dalí and Elsa Schiaparelli -, some other times the fashion designers are getting inspired by art - see the Mondrian Dress (1965) by Yves Saint Laurent for example. Still other times, the artists make allusions to fashion within their works with the intention to reflect - such as Pistoletto’s “Venus of the Rags” (1967) - or to denounce something - like the “anti-fast fashion” murals accomplished by the Polish street artist Igor Dobrowolski.
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Aliceson Carter, Self Portrait I / Self Portrait III, 2021
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There would still be much to be said about that, but this introduction is enough to let us get into the spirit of the group exhibition “On Clothing: the Visible Self”, arranged at the Spazio Millepiani in Rome and accessible by the public between March and April. The exhibition shows a selection of photos concerning the main subject of clothing considered as “second skin” being able to talk about us, our bodies, ourselves.
It proposes itself as a gallery filled with shapes, colours and messages, but at the same time it is a matryoshka, a meta-artistic reflection. The exhibition room is populated by pictures and, in its turn, it houses contents dealing with visuality, chromatic (dis)harmony and with our body’s ability to rise to become a fashion-artwork per se.
Various are the points of view the photographers use to look at this subject as they take into account many different themes. There are allusions to the process of growth as well as to the overconsumption of textiles. Several are the references to the idea of possession linking us inextricably to what we wear and the wardrobe we own. More sensitive topics - like the ones linked to our own identity - are not excluded either. Summing up, the art pieces exhibited at the Spazio Millepiani shake up some of our certainties by reflecting our society and its changes, and by talking about us and the world we live in.
Being the photos about us and our dimension, they must also include a disruptive element as the pandemic, here documented by an interesting as well as unusual angle. How does the relationship with ourselves change when forced to spend most of our time locked inside our houses? These photos show us a path that we all have shared - a slow way towards laziness and tediousness - by documenting our relationship with clothing. When the collective communication is limited to a screen and real life takes a back seat, clothing becomes a superfluous accessory to hide behind. Clothes are useful for their comfort, but totally uninteresting for their chromatic, material and aesthetic features.
It proposes itself as a gallery filled with shapes, colours and messages, but at the same time it is a matryoshka, a meta-artistic reflection. The exhibition room is populated by pictures and, in its turn, it houses contents dealing with visuality, chromatic (dis)harmony and with our body’s ability to rise to become a fashion-artwork per se.
Various are the points of view the photographers use to look at this subject as they take into account many different themes. There are allusions to the process of growth as well as to the overconsumption of textiles. Several are the references to the idea of possession linking us inextricably to what we wear and the wardrobe we own. More sensitive topics - like the ones linked to our own identity - are not excluded either. Summing up, the art pieces exhibited at the Spazio Millepiani shake up some of our certainties by reflecting our society and its changes, and by talking about us and the world we live in.
Being the photos about us and our dimension, they must also include a disruptive element as the pandemic, here documented by an interesting as well as unusual angle. How does the relationship with ourselves change when forced to spend most of our time locked inside our houses? These photos show us a path that we all have shared - a slow way towards laziness and tediousness - by documenting our relationship with clothing. When the collective communication is limited to a screen and real life takes a back seat, clothing becomes a superfluous accessory to hide behind. Clothes are useful for their comfort, but totally uninteresting for their chromatic, material and aesthetic features.
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Anait Sagoyan, I Came to Explore the Wreck, 2021
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The abovementioned section creates a conflicting dialogue with those pictures investigating the use of dress codes used to participate in social events, but not only. In the exhibition, the dress code is not just intended as a specific outfit we choose when taking part in ceremonies or official occasions; it is also considered as a symbol of belonging to a specific culture, sub-culture or to a group.
Sometimes it is also a manifesto of certain traditions that are somehow repeated and re-enacted by wearing traditional costumes, while some others it becomes a disruptive element capable of subverting the rules (just like punk music, for example). Clothing represents ourselves, who we are and our transitions, our sole identity or our gender fluidity.
Occasionally, what we wear says nothing about ourselves or everything about who we would like to be or, at least, to appear to be. It is exactly at this point that clothing gives us the chance to disguise ourselves, to become something other than our everyday-self. Or, more simply, it lets us appear as ‘different’ while feeling ourselves. It lets us hide or, on the contrary, to be under the stage lights. In any case, far from the stereotypes, from the archetypes letting us feel connected to an identity that is not ours.
Sometimes it is also a manifesto of certain traditions that are somehow repeated and re-enacted by wearing traditional costumes, while some others it becomes a disruptive element capable of subverting the rules (just like punk music, for example). Clothing represents ourselves, who we are and our transitions, our sole identity or our gender fluidity.
Occasionally, what we wear says nothing about ourselves or everything about who we would like to be or, at least, to appear to be. It is exactly at this point that clothing gives us the chance to disguise ourselves, to become something other than our everyday-self. Or, more simply, it lets us appear as ‘different’ while feeling ourselves. It lets us hide or, on the contrary, to be under the stage lights. In any case, far from the stereotypes, from the archetypes letting us feel connected to an identity that is not ours.
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Patricia Christakos, Your Slip is Showing XXIII, 2018
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Marina Tsaregorodtseva, Modern Oscar Wilde, 2020
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ON CLOTHING. THE VISIBLE SELF
March 17th - April 22nd, 2022
Millepiani - Via N. Odero,13, Rome - IT
linfo@millepiani.eu
+39 06.888.17.620
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