2023
7 wears, 2023. Industrially produced muslin, handwoven cotton fabric, thread, wood, 7 days of wearing each garment. 30”x24”x4”. Left: timelapse of each iteration of two shirts. Left: performance process shot.
I sewed two shirts from a women’s paper sewing pattern. I used handwoven fabric I wove for one of the shirts, and muslin for the other. Studies of American and UK women have found that on average, an article of clothing is only worn seven times before it is discarded. I wore both of these shirts only seven times. Each time I wore one of the shirts, I cut off a section to exchange with the other, visually marking each wear and gradually combining industrially produced with handwoven fabric. I sewed the sections of the two shirts back together by hand for each exchange of parts.
Historically, garments were passed down through generations and worn until they were rags before being discarded. This is because the garments were made by hand, and required an enormous amount of labor to produce. Since the Industrial Revolution, clothing has become much less expensive to produce: although it was once precious, it is now viewed as disposable, particularly to the fast fashion industry. Despite this, clothing still must be sewn by hand, and each garment holds many hours of labor. Through undertaking this project, I acted out the vast amount of labor required to make a garment to people who are in my community, who were astonished by the vast amount of time I was spending each day sewing my clothes back together. I hope this astonishment extends to the vast amount of waste and exploitation the textile industry perpetuates.
2019
Excerpt of Perimeter Walk documentation, 2019. 0:26. Gopro video of walk around edge of perimeter of Chautauqua projected between columns in Chautauqua School of Art quadrangle as a thread the length of the perimeter of Chautauqua is wound and unwound.
In this performance, I walked the entire distance of the perimeter of Chautauqua Institution (3.1 miles) between two columns in the art quad at Chautauqua School of Art while an artist in residence in summer 2019. Chautauqua is a gated community, and during the summer you need a pass to get in or out. Not being used to being in a space with such a defined boundary, I would go on walks throughout the summer trying to get as close to the edge, but it was often quite difficult to do so, and had been obstructed or concealed. I found out while doing research in the Chautauqua archives that until the 1990s, there was a weaving program at the School of Art, and that my studio that summer was located where the weaving room used to be. I wanted to reconnect the space to its history of being a place for making things with thread while also exposing the hidden perimeter.
2018
I made Map of a Walk soon after learning how to weave during summer 2018. At the time, I was also hiking a lot near Santa Fe, and reading trail maps to try to figure out where I was and how far I was going. I found that the representation of distance on maps often seemed far removed from the reality of that distance—I had just learned about calculating the warp length necessary for a weaving project, and realized this could be a way to make a distance that seems abstract as just a number more tangible to me.
I wove and sewed together a dress for myself using 2 miles and 234 yards of linen thread. The dress was made for walking 2 miles and 234 yards while I wear it. The final width of the dress is approximately the length of my stride, and the process of weaving on a treadle loom mirrored walking, using my feet to raise and lower harnesses and send weft across. In fall 2018, I went on a 2 mile and 234 yard walk in Grinnell, IA on 8th Ave from one edge of the town to the other while wearing the dress.
For Clothed System, I sewed myself three shirts, two pairs of pants, and a dress from secondhand linen tablecloths and then wore the clothes continuously until they wore out. I also made a set of two wooden hooks where the clothes lived when they were not on my body or in the wash. During the two months I wore the clothes, they were installed both in my bedroom and in the Bachelor of Arts Exhibition at Grinnell College. The piece changed every day as I had to change out the clothes to get dressed and do my laundry. After 65 days, the clothes were rags, and I made them into paper. I made each sheet of paper so that it has a hole the exact size of the wooden hooks and can hang on the hooks as the clothes had while I was wearing them. I have no interest in using the paper for writing or drawing, but rather in keeping it in this form: a sculpture that will preserve both a history of and potential for use.
Clothed System, 2018. secondhand linen tablecloths, thread, wood, all of Anne's time spent clothed for 65 days. Installed in Anne's bedroom, the place where they usually get dressed.
Over (Again), 2018. Digital video, 5:23.
