WHAT WE WEAR, WHAT WEARS US
WHAT WE WEAR, WHAT WEARS US: Language of Social Hierarchy
I believe art begins in personal experience and expands into a conversation that offers others another way to see the world. COMMERCIAL gives you an answer; ART leaves you with questions.
My work explores how adornment shapes identity, social perception, and the grammar of hierarchy. My classroom was a microcosm where brands and prices influenced popularity, status, and belonging. Through inspiration, reference, and research, I connected these observations to a broader question. Brands promise distinction, yet the same signals make people recognizable and interchangeable. When I learned that Perrotin had replaced the banana David Datuna ate from Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, I thought of the uniformed figures in Andreas Gursky’s photographs. Both seemed replaceable, and uncomfortably like us. My work became a study of that unease: an examination of individuals with identities erased, replaceable as long as uniforms are present.
In worn-out clothes, I sometimes hope to pass unnoticed. In a well-cut suit, I feel my shoulders straighten before I have even stepped outside. The body underneath hasn't changed, yet each outfit seems to give me a different place in the world. In the company of others, fabric becomes a language of belonging and rank. Clothing changes more than the impression I make on others. It can alter the way I inhabit my own body.
My questions about clothing and status led me to the uniform, a garment that seems to introduce a person before they can introduce themselves. It names an occupation, suggests authority, and places its wearer within an order of roles. I became interested in the person left inside that outline. If another face appeared above the same collar, would we notice the exchange? If one person moved through several uniforms, would we recognize a life continuing beneath them? From a distance, a classroom of students in matching uniforms can look like a picture of equality. Up close, we learn to read the differences. Familiarity can narrow our attention: we recognize the type of person we expect to see and may stop looking for the person in front of us.
Photography’s closeness to visible reality offers viewers an immediate point of entry, while a still frame can suggest the unfolding of continuous time. In my photographic work, I create at least 95% of each image in camera. Even as generative AI makes images available with a click, I believe in the value and aura of work shaped by craftsmanship. That conviction needs examining. Without an idea to sustain it, technical mastery becomes superficial. Technology is an effective medium to convey ideas; however, I want my decisions grounded in the humanities, attentive to the living world and the people my work represents.
I intend to become an artist, not a mere technician, who can account for what each choice reveals, withholds, and leaves with the viewer. As the images change, the form underneath remains. I keep returning to that persistence, and to the possibility of seeing one another beyond the passing light.