C O V E R I N G

These are some excerpts that I pulled from the book 'Aware, Art Fashion and Identity'

"Clothing is imbued with meaning and thought to reveal something of the self, whether we like it or not"

Aware, Art Fashion and Identity, Fashion, Clothing and Identity: A Modern Contradiction, Joanne Entwistle pg 25

"While clothing 'messages' are opaque and open to misunderstanding, there is a common belief that clothes 'speak' of identity." (Aware, Art Fashion and Identity, Fashion, Clothing and Identity: A Modern Contradiction, Joanne Entwistle pg 25)

"Cconsciously or unconsciously, everyone who plays this fashion game knows that the 'truth' of identity is never fixed or secure"

(Aware, Art Fashion and Identity, Fashion, Clothing and Identity: A Modern Contradiction, Joanne Entwistle pg 25)

V i t o  A c c o n c i

Vito Acconci is considered one of the major artist of the twentieth-century "from 1970 on, Acconci produced an explosive series of pieces and actions which emphasised the way the human body is torn between private and public needs; he weaves all of human behaviours as sharing an unconscious deference to rules and boundaries, the most important of which are the boundaries separating private space from shared space", this collective work was entitled Umbruffla, 2005-10. (Sourced from Aware art fashion and identity, Fashion, clothing and identity, Royal academy Of Arts, Acconci Studio, Vito Acconci pg 49)

Acconci created the wearable umbrella which can be used to provide privacy in our everyday lives, if you feel to consumed by the outside world you can enter this umbrella to feel safe, secure and alone in your own private environment. i find this notion of needing to feel protected as interesting considering we already have our most important organs on the inside of our bodies protected by flesh and then still wear clothing also protect. 

What are we protecting ourselves from when we are already equipped with this device thorough our flesh. It is through our flesh that we can identify ourselves by, our skin colour defines race, and condition of skin displays relative age. Why would we want to cover our natural bodies up? It is this notion that confuses me and urges me more to display the form under our clothing apposed to covering it up and smothering the potential for expression.