A cocoon of carefully interwoven fabric. Shoes, scarves, shirts, pants, skirts, jackets – every item of clothing a person owns morphed to make a human-sized sculpture. Why is that? Because there is a human being inside this heap of clothing.
Canadian photographer Libby Oliver is spellbound by the power that clothing has to simultaneously reveal and veil human identity and desire. Soft Shells is a visual exploration of this susceptibility to portray our personalities through dress and at the same time to use wardrobe to hide our insecurities from the world.
To create this body of work Libby buried her subjects in every item of clothing that they own. At first glance, the viewer might perceive these cloth sculptures as laundry heaps. Upon closer inspection, however, the viewer will be able to identify small sections of human flesh in the form of foreheads, hands and peeping eyes escaping from the binding clothing stacks of scarves, pants and blouses.
In her artist’s statement, Libby expresses “This work arises from my interest in artificiality, visual power relationships and indexing a person through their belongings. Through this series, I aim to explore the tension point between a person’s curated individuality and my personal manipulation of their aesthetic. Soft Shells speaks of human vulnerability, trust, power and control relations of visual interpretation.”
Libby aspires to travel with her ongoing project to various locations in order to broaden the representation of identities, cultures and clothing. For more of her work check out her Instagram.
Throughout the history of art, artists have appreciated the versatility that fabric possesses. Viewed as clothing, skin and a source of identity, it can be manipulated and molded into an object (or subject) with conceptual depth. It allows for the creation of soft sculptures, or be used as aids in performance, but does not deny artists the ability to project a sense of hardness, scale or visual weight. Textiles can also be used as a presentation of and reflection on colonialism and global trade, as with the work of UK-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare with his investigations of political and social histories. Fabric also offers a way to think about personal histories, as with the case of Accra-based artist Serge Attukwei Clottey‘s work My Mother’s Wardrobe.
‘My Mother’s Wardrobe’ by Serge Attukwei Clottey
Clottey’s work generally examines the power of everyday objects. However, the above mentioned work is potent in the way that it gives an avenue for thinking about the use and signification that fabric offers artists and viewers. Through this work he explored the connection that fabric can create between mothers and their children. In this work he used performance as a way to interrogate gender roles along with notions of family, ancestry and spirituality. This was a personal work inspired by the death of his mother, and the performance unpacked the concept of materiality with the intention of honouring women as the collectors and custodians of cloth that serve as signifiers of history and memory. Clottey presents a vulnerability in the way that he brings across his own experiences, while inviting viewers to think about their own personal connections to his subject matter.
While is broader practice involves photography, installation, sculpture and performance, this work highlights the significance of fabric when thinking about personal and collective cultures, histories and intimacies.
Artwork by Turiya Magadlela
Johannesburg-based artists Turiya Magadlela uses fabric as her primary medium, cutting, stitching and stretching it over wooden frames. Her use of commonly found fabrics, such as pantyhose and uniforms brings the past life of the fabric into the exhibition space, where it’s very presence creates animated associations in the minds of viewers. Her use of familiar fabrics allows her work to oscillate between abstract art and a collection of memories interwoven with articulations of experiences of womanhood, motherhood and narratives from Black South African history.
Looking at the work of Clottey and Magadlela the significance of fabric as a container of history and memories becomes clear. Its physical and conceptual malleability highlights its ability to be a tool for preservation, reflection and identity.
He is a walking talking brand. In Spanish his name means “good times” and he has a PhD in giving them.
Dr Pachanga is the vision child of Jean Rene Onyangunga who, having left his home town Durban, went to Cape Town to work as a Stylist. Having come from two generations of vintage traders, it was from a young age that he was already selling his wears outside the church steps. He was selling second hand clothes before it was cool and called ‘vintage’. You could say that he was born with the vintage silver spoon in his mouth.
Whilst working in Cape Town he would source from various places including old age homes. Soon his home was filled with woman’s clothing which he would also wear. He and his friends would come to his place to get dressed for the evening out from his collection. It’s from here that he began selling his threads through his friends who at that time would set the prices for him.
He would soon decide to open his first store on the popular Long Street in Cape Town. His target was the students with their daring style. His followers would soon grow but not enough to open shop. It was only once he had establish a good online following, using social media to attract his supporters, that he was able to build 60 percent of his business using Facebook.
Jean would then move to Maboneng in Johannesburg. From this location he would run his vintage store and also host the shoots. It was here that he recognized the strength of the Dr Pachanga brand. For a year he had been in search for the right place to open his store and found it at the newly opened Newtown Junction. He also recently opened up another store in the upmarket 44 Stanley under the store name, La Sape.
His followers and buyers coming from as far as Mafikeng, Pretoria and Sebokeng just to get their hands on his wears.
Although he’s been labeled a vintage retailer he sees himself as actually being “a curator”. He collaborates with others and is not afraid to put in the hard work. He is a “Modern day hustler”, wherever I find a gap, I create”. Yet he also wants those around him to go forward, referring to the words “La union de la force”, a union makes a force!
He sees his work as “trying to build an institution of modern day hustlers” and wants his legacy to be that of giving back. He sees Newtown and Johannesburg as the space where we can start our own movement and be whatever we want to be. He doesn’t see Johannesburg as “wanting to be another New York. A lot of foreigners from other cities compliment us on how we are so way ahead” and it is they that come to us in search of their next styles.
He makes reference of this through his work with US singer, song writer and style icon Solange Knowles on her video for her track, “Loosing you”. Jean worked on the casting and styling for the shoot. He added that “she brought her own people down, worked with South Africans and Congolese. She wanted to showcase a cultural mix in her music video”.
Jean sees his own work as bringing the two worlds of Johannesburg together. For him these worlds are separated by bridges, one of which being dedicated to Nelson Mandela under the same name. The working class and township areas are kept “at bay” by the city center from the wealthier Northern suburbs. At their meeting point is Joburg’s “downtown,” its central business district (CBD). Newtown is nestled at this center and Jean sees it as being a space where culture can grow. “Middle of town has its own culture with its own mix of African Diaspora. Newtown has its own feel too and I find that it has this freedom to explore”. For him, “Newtown is Freetown”.
He sees his business as part of this center. He sees both his stores in Newtown and 44 Stanley as being a part of the process of “bringing in people from different sides of Joburg together, educating people downtown about uptown styles by encouraging them to move up”.
“Yes we may come from a history of being underprivileged. Jozi is the place to make the money but we need to look at the long term. For me to be where I am took 10 years. I left Durban in 2006 and didn’t think I’d be in Joburg”.
He hustled for himself. At one point he only had 200 rands in his pocket and had to close his studio and moved into his parent’s place. Within 2 months of moving to Joburg he was opening his first shop.
“You must work long hours. The money will come but it can also move quickly”. Working hard can get you the results but you cannot be working hard to just get the cash.
“If you fail, fail again until you get it right. I failed but from the failure I learnt how to stay afloat. This is what I learnt after 5 years of trying.”
He sums up his strategy as “having long term goals, creating collective spaces for each other and setting our own standards that make up the industry”.
Jean further argues that South African’s in the creative industry need to stop taking low rates from those overseas. People need to come here and know that they cannot get cheap labor. This can only be stopped once we set such standards for working with each other. “Let’s build our own standards for doing business. Without them we will be exploited”.
Yet he also highlights an important aspects of working within the creative industry that can be easily overlooked by budding entrepreneurs. “In this world you also need to know how the business works. You need to know how the rand is doing. You need to know how to control your finances, looking at different avenues”. He argues that we need to look at the long term goals of also knowing how to make your money grow the business.
For Jean he thought of the long term consequences of his work. We must not rely on the present fashion and style industry with its own styles and small circles. He’s been there and says it killed his creativity. “We must not hate on them but rather move beyond them and aim to build something solid for ourselves.”
This is what makes you a good artist today. You cannot stick to one thing only. After 6 years you will find your strong points. Yet you must continue to develop yourself try new things and expand. “If you want to be an artist you got to do the dirty work and push. Work to fund yourself. Doing the work you don’t like and use that money to pay for yourself. Don’t wait to for that funding.”
It’s about knowing the business side and it may be difficult but even in the style and creative industries need to learn from the early stages how to run and fund their our own business.
You can follow both his stores on Facebook and La Sape for the latest stock and sales.
