EMILIES SUIT: 1
SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS
NEW YORK CITY, NY
2022
This piece was done for the Artist in Residency Program at SVA, and is inspired by stories of my great grandmother Emilie. It aims to address the disconnect between our bodies and environments perpetuated by the modern fashion industry, under the lens of reviving lost family history and human traditions. Emilie’s Suit 1 was completely grown, dyed, and woven using biomaterials and kitchen waste over the course of 5 weeks, mimicking an original pink and yellow tweed suit made by Emilie herself to transcend these issues over multiple generations.
My great grandmother was a teenager when she was forced to flee Poland by herself in the late 1930s. She spoke no English, and despite desperate efforts never saw or heard from her family again. She began working as a seamstress for wealthy women, and was accustomed to up-cycling high end scraps from the clothes she made from them - transforming the extra material into pieces for herself and her family.
Top of a suit made by my Great Grandmother Emilie Waschinek circa 1953
Emilie’s Suit: 1 Kombucha bio leather, beetroot, turmeric, 2022
Inspired by one of her last pieces - a three piece yellow and pink Chanel-esque suit - I created a woven top and accompanying zine from a Kombucha-based bio-leather died with beetroot and turmeric sourced from my own kitchen waste.
The process of growing, dyeing, weaving and constructing this top reminded me to reflect on the lost connection between ourselves and the materials we encase our bodies in - a relationship that was once the norm. At points, this project made me feel like not just an artist, but a biologist, chef, and historian.
