ORIGIN

As a teenager, my family and I relocated to Perth, Western Australia. We lived there for three years which were fantastic. I enjoyed experiencing a different culture and country. 

The base for my work was the classic male white shirt. I used it to convey the tension between the European culture and Aboriginal culture. I changed its use and classic function by replacing buttons with tying elements and by distorting classic elements of the white shirt such as collars and cuffs, mainly using knots. I used the tying elements throughout my collection in order to emphasize the complexity and harsh stories of the Aboriginal culture.

It was also important for me to combine Aboriginal art in my work. I was amazed by the fact that their method of telling stories was through dots in their art, all hand-painted.

In my collection I used my interpretation of those dots and created a pattern of different sized and colored dots. I also referred to their body art of handprints. and created different patterns of embroidered handprints.