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Jody Culkin: Refashioned

Jody Culkin, Uni, 2009, fabric, steel, copper mesh, elastic, and broken glass, 80” x 21” x 18.” Courtesy of the artist and the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

Jody Culkin, Uni, 2009, fabric, steel, copper mesh, elastic, and broken glass, 80” x 21” x 18.” Courtesy of the artist and the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

Boca Raton Museum of Art

By Raisa Clavijo

This beautiful exhibition undermines the traditional use of different feminine attire, questioning how fashion and the use of apparel imposed by society and culture can both liberate and repress a woman.

Culkin takes advantage of the possibilities offered by traditional techniques used in the manufacture of clothing and fabrics to delight in the opportunities provided by different textures, colors, decorative patterns, textiles, etc.  On occasion, she uses elements not associated with the production of clothing like steel, wood, broken glass, cardboard, etc.

Culkin deconstructs fashion, subverting its traditional structures and patterns in favor of expressing the growing power of women. In the exhibition, a burka is refashioned to be sheer with a spinning propeller that could allow an imaginary occupant to escape her repression. A hoodie is reinterpreted as a feminist Victorian headdress. A soccer shirt is transformed into a dress with a bonnet and copper mesh sleeves reminiscent of medieval chain mail. Through April 21, 2013.

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Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

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  1. [...] and here’s a mention towards the end of the article in the Palm Beach Post. Another piece in Art Districts Magazine. There’s also a blog post on the museum site, scroll [...]

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