3D Printing Fashion

Mary Huang

http://www.rhymeandreasoncreative.com/portfolio/index.php?project=continuum

"Designing interactions, fashion, and the future of stuff. Working with code and form."


With computational design there is the opportunity to not only create beautifully intricate forms, but to define a design according to its governing processes and user interactions. This project sought to mediate between the avant-garde and ready-to-wear, between individual users and a designer's vision. Could we use technology to democratize haute couture? Could we let people design their own dress, and still maintain a cohesive, recognizable design?

Computational couture captures this philosophy and applies it toward solving the persistent problem of standardized sizing in ready-to-wear. CONTINUUM is a concept for a web-based fashion label in which designs are user-generated using custom software and made to order to your personal measurements. Its seminal collection is a deconstruction of the classic little black dress. Software allows you to "draw" a dress and converts it into a 3D model

PBAI mimics human sensations in digital epiphyte chamber

 

PBAI mimics human sensations in digital epiphyte chamber
all images courtesy of philip beesley architect inc.

envisioned as an archipelago of interconnected halo-like masses, the ‘epiphyte chamber’ by canadian studio PBAI philip beesley architect inc. mimics human sensations through subtle, coordinated movements. conceived as an ‘epiphyte’, an aerial plant species that can grow without the support of soil, the immersive sculpture explores artificial intelligence, digital fabrication and interactive technologies to create a near-living environment. across each floating island, densely interwoven structures and delicate canopies made of thousands of lightweight components are drawn together in harmonious breathing and whispers. hovering fabric helps to frame the suspended pieces, lined with bulging, fluid-filled vessels and glands. the faunal groups contain metabolisms with chemicals, which move in response to slow reactions.

Attaching Bags to Garments

Reinventing the bum bag?

 

http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/style_bubble/2007/02/i_want_to_wear_.html

Yohji Yamamoto and Mandarina Duck collaboration created a wearable bag, that can be worn and used as a seaerate bag.

Fashion Designers Influenced by Microbiology

http://blog.myfdb.com/2011/07/textile-time-from-sour-milk-to-silk/



Anke Domaske has developed a method of turning sour milk into eco-friendly yarn which can then be made into fabric. Domaske explains, “milk is a wonderful, natural raw material. The special thing about milk is that is has a lovely silky feel. The fabric falls wonderfully, and it�s cheaper than silk.” The best part of her clothes, besides being good for the environment, are that they are actually fashionable. Considering silk is known for damaging the environment with pesticides and its fabric making process, to attain a similar feel with something as bountiful as sour milk is revolutionary. Her pieces start around $290, which is affordable for the eco-luxury market, but for the “I’m on a budget” market the cost feels a little steep. - See more at: http://blog.myfdb.com/2011/07/textile-time-from-sour-milk-to-silk/#sthash.AqqK6yQf.dpuf

http://www.coolhunting.com/style/fashion-x-technology-naim-josefi.php

Blending minimalism with a touch of whimsy, Swedish designer Naim Josefi has broken new ground on the runway. Drawing comparisons to icons like Alexander McQueen, Josefi has already established himself as a name synonymous with incredible innovation. Back in 2012, Josefi won an opportunity to showcase his collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week as a winner on fashion design reality show Project Runway, and has continued to inspire and amaze. Exhibiting an innate ability to stay one step ahead of the careening fashion curve, Josefi isn't afraid of experimenting with new materials and technology. Josefi collaborated with designer Johan Walden for his premiere collection, Wana, a collection of hand-jewelry with sensual and interwoven accents made out lace.

http://thilinah.tumblr.com/post/41105579983/microbiology-and-fashion-cytology-the-micro

 

Once a science student, now a fashion designer Ashish N Soni goes back to his roots to find the inspiration in his latest collection for “Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, Summer/Spring 2013”. His collection ‘Cytology - The Micro Lab’, brings out the appearance of human blood system in structured and commanding designs on articles of clothing. Various prints have been developed studying the structure and appearance of cells in the body and the patterns and marks that they create. The collection features outlines that are strong, powerful, reduced, sophisticated, yet severe.

Austrian Designer Imagines Clothing Created From Your Body’s Bacteria

http://flavorwire.com/46793/austrian-designer-imagines-clothing-created-from-your-bodys-bacteria

 

Austrian designer Sonja Bäumel recognizes the body bacteria as a fashion inspiration and is showing her “(In)visible Membranes: Life on the Human Body and Its Design Applications” project.

This body bacteria fashion is a mashup of her philosophy, science and imagination to reveal how bacteria on skin can be used to create clothing.
Or, in her own words,
“transformation of invisible skin bacteria on our living body to visible bacteria on a body-external medium.”
The "Crocheted Membrane" reveals how bacteria would grown to complete fiber layers that react to a body temperature and change as needed.
This fashion designer turned scientist for ten days during an internship at a lab in the Netherlands to learn if there was any science to support her concept.
“I got some very good results from my experiments,” she says. “One proved that there is a reaction of bacteria to textiles, but my research also showed me that it is a long way until finally reaching my goal.”

The Future of death

http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/12/5204974/skyscraper-cemetery-design-in-norway

Sky Scraper Cemeteries

"

4
inShSpace shortages in countries around the world are raising a daunting question: where to lay dead bodies to rest. This month in Oslo, Norway, architecture student Martin McSherry presented a "vertical cemetery" design to the Oslo Conference for Nordic Cemeteries and Graveyards as a solution to the country's growing burial land problem."

3D printing and live textiles

http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/11/5200814/designer-creates-3d-printed-regenerative-running-shoe

"

At the Wearable Futures conference, London designer and researcher Shamees Aden debuted a running shoe concept that will put your worn out kicks to shame. The shoes, which he's developing with University of Southern Denmark professor Martin Hanczyc, are 3D printed from a synthetic biological material that can repair itself overnight.

The running shoes are the product of Aden's study of protocells. The basic protocell molecules are not themselves alive, but can be combined to create living organisms. Mixing different protocells creates different properties, and allows them to be programmed to behave differently depending on heat, light, and pressure. The shoes' unique construction allows them to be 3D printed to the exact size of the user's foot, so they would fit like a second skin. While running, the shoes would react to pressure and movement, providing extra cushioning when needed.

"The cells have the capability to inflate and deflate and to respond to pressure," Aden tells Dezeen. "As you're running on different grounds and textures it's able to inflate or deflate depending on the pressure you put onto it and could help support you as a runner.""

PE Presentation Review

Were your aims / objectives clearly articulated visually and verbally? I explained well what process I was using to create my designs but may have been undecided when it came to what I was going to do with them next. I was advised to continue with fabrics and link it more with the life and death idea, for example using ethereal like and transparent fabrics to print on. And also looking at what you can further do with the accessories idea, or example attaching accessories to garments to contain ashes, or creating labels of memoires to the garments.
 
Did you include appropriate contextual references? Included relevant images that had been specifically picked out so they related to what I was talking about in my presentation but maybe needed more, which would be gained from more artist’s research so I could put artists between each process of my work so it linked better, and then I could have added more pictures of my own work. I could have also worked on the layout of the images more as they were a bit square and was not consistent throughout the slides, I could improve this by creating the images in Photoshop so I had a collage of my drawings and then put them in a slide.
 
How well did you explain your theme, idea or concept? Needed more thorough explanation of the wearing death idea. But it's still not a focused concept so it’s still quite open, just has an underlying theme. More practise of the presentation could have been beneficial as it didn’t quite flow, but nerves did make me forget some points at the beginning of the presentation.
 
Are your methods, techniques / lines of enquiry clear and challenging enough? Working outside of my usual process of taking photos and making them straight into a print, by creating more conceptual work. This involved more research and analysis, but also finding a way of translating my ideas into a visual print. I think I articulated quite well how I wanted to create more depth and dimension to my digital prints by using a range of media when I am drawing and then working into them after I have printed them.
 
How or will the project I am working on now relate to the next unit (Unit X)? I would possibly continue the idea and create flats of the printed garments or accessories into one or more collections.
 
Are you clear about the market or context of your work? Missed out mentioning a specific season being autumn winter if I was using wools or spring summer if I was using light and transparent fabrics, and the buyer profile = young fashionistas that aren't afraid to experiment and challenge to boundaries of fashion.

 

Viable option for knitted stretch fabrics

http://www.knittingindustry.com/knitters-join-the-digital-print-revolution/

"Photo-realistic prints of New York street scenes differentiate New York swimwear brand Graffinis, founded by designer Paul Cartelli in 2007. Cartelli uses digital photography of the city's graffiti, neon signage, and other iconic images, rescaling them to work with the body. The images are digitally placed on nylon tricot to fit within the confines of swimwear pattern pieces, then cut and sewn. This means that only the fabric needed for the suit itself is printed, eliminating wasted ink and fabric. - See more at: http://www.knittingindustry.com/knitters-join-the-digital-print-revolution/#sthash.R6YV3szR.dpuf"

Rotorary printing is being overtaken by inket printing as it catches up on printing speeds.

"Miroglio Textiles, one of Europe's largest textile printers, features printed fine gauge knits in their Dream division; and incorporated digital printing into their production in Govone, Italy, several years ago. The company has recently invested in the Konica Minolta Nassenger PRO 1000, which can print 600 square metres/hour set at the standard resolution of 540 x 720 dpi, and up to 1000 square metres/hour at a lower resolution. Paolo Gramaglia, Miroglio Textile's business unit director, points out that "Digital technology will allow us to solve the impossible equation between standardization and customization by not only offering a beautiful collection, but by offering our clients the opportunity to have more customization." - See more at: http://www.knittingindustry.com/knitters-join-the-digital-print-revolution/#sthash.R6YV3szR.dpuf"

http://frontdoorsnews.com/2013/03/digital-print-fashion/

Development of contemporary digital print for fashion.

"
Developing over the last two decades, digital technology has enabled designers to create a new range of prints in bold, eye-catching colors and patterns, the likes of which were not possible even a few seasons ago.
Digital printing allows designers to rapidly reproduce and manipulate images and apply them to any textile. This revolutionary technology has significantly impacted designers’ ability to create customized designs."

Basso & Brooke

http://www.lustandfoundmag.com/article.php?articleid=17&category=Fashion

"Take one graphic artist, Bruno Basso and one fashion designer, Christopher Brooke, and you have one of the most influential fashion duos specialising in digital print, Basso & Brooke. After winning the Fashion Fringe Award with their 100% digitally printed collection, they have been independently showing at London Fashion Week since February 2005, gaining worldwide reputation from international press and stockists. Not content with being dubbed 'The Pixar of clothes', Basso & Brooke have translated their signature prints onto non fashion products, collaborating with Coca-Cola, Converse, Swarovski, L'Oreal Paris, Mac, Habitat, Lycra, and the British Council to name a few, propelling the label into a lifestyle brand. They've also been busy coaching budding print-makers in their one-day Fabulous Digital Power Print Workshop in December 2011, giving young designers a chance to make their own bespoke printed dress. Talk about dedication to their craft!"

Digitally Printed Saris

 

"Casual Digital printed sarees by Indian Designers,Girls like to drap sarees to much and they also look beautiful and traditional women's.Salwar Kameez are easy and comfortable clothing when compared with draping a Saree. But Sarees are often a great fascination for Indian Women, it can bring up the Ethnic look which you always desired for.and if you want change then these casual digital printed sarees are best option ,Embellished with Soft embroidery and Beads work on pallu.

Here designer used different type of technique in digital printing like Floral Digital Print,Abstract Digital Print,Faux Georgette Digital Print etc lets have a look on complete collection."

Amrei Hofstätter – Japan Inspired Digital Design

http://patternbank.com/amrei-hofstatter-japan-inspired-digital-design/

"Berlin based Artist/ Illustrater Amrei Hofstätter is a self admitted Origami obsessive. The Japanese paper art is evident in her work, adding the charateristic shapes and dimension. The idea of misbalance and imperfection serves as inspiration, and her interest in Freud’s idea of the ‘uncanny’ and the human psyche, fuel her desire to create a feeling of irritation within the viewer, evoking something inside they were not yet aware of. Patternbank loved fashion designer Manish Arora’s heavily embellished, futuristic collection Amrei collaborated with in A/W 11/12. Visit her website to see more."

A microscopic view of a macroscopic world

http://lorishocketmd.com/electronmicroscopy/fuag37awd3a2p3lm7o6zbrlw0c78do

http://www.designboom.com/snapshots/venice_06/australia.html

australia - ‘micro macro city’ venue: pavilion at giardini commissioner: lucy turnbull http://architecture.com.au micro macro city presents eight highly-specific portraits of  australian urban conditions which together form a culmative  and comparative representation of everyday australian  metropolitan life. in parallel, tweleve architectural projects  are presented that demonstarte a relationship to the issues  raised by each condition. the exhibition was categorized into the following themes: shrinkage, expansion, interface overlap, absorbsion, exchange, re-use and oversupply. irregularly shaped tables are distributed through the  exhibition space ecah displaying drawings, potographs  and architectural models. each table contains a drawing  of an aspect of the urban theme togetherwith images of  the selected architectural project in a manner that enables  visiors to the exhibition percieve and reflect upon their  relationship. sometimes this relationship is quite direct, in other instances it can be more provocative or speculative. shrinkage: a small rural town expericences poulation decline,  brought about by technilogical transformations in agriculture.  along with the disappearance of goverment agencies, financial services  and the reduction in retail.the maintenance of community support structures  for cultural, social and recreational activities is placed under threat. a small botanical reserve survives in the main street, this small strip  of civicpride endures becauseits compact size enables it to be maintained,  despite the towns reduced circumstances. a vacant habedashery shop is  rennovated to accomodate a gallery and a local artist in residence program. ’‘the international art space, kelleberrin, western australia’ despite its modesty its engagement with the community and outreach internationally has had enourmous positive positve social and cultural  reprecussions. careful management, which requires that artists work  directly with the local community. amplifies the impact of the modest but  highly effective architectural transformation.

Swarovski Crystal Place Projects

http://swarovskicrystalpalace.tumblr.com/

""Guilherme Torres has brought to life the powerful but fragile beauty of Brazil’s endangered mangrove forests in a resonantly beautiful and inspiring work, continuing his design vision with Swarovski crystal". - Nadja Swarovski, Member of the Executive Board - See more at: http://swarovskicrystalpalace.tumblr.com/#sthash.648GSe38.dpuf"

Micro photographs of decay

Zeiss Microscope

Using the microscope I've taken pictures of animal cells on screens. Some have been taken from a human.

Tokyofashion

Silver Issey Miyake Suit & Comme des Garcons Monochrome Look in Tokyo

Images by tokyofashion.com

Dazed and Confused - Reverie Sleep

http://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/17988/1/dreamweaver

Duo Synchrodog recreate dreams through photography. 

Portfolio research

Starting a new portfolio for work is daunting but this book really comprehensive and useful. 

Technology and today's catwalk

(Image from Swarovski Instagram)

The image above is from SWAROVSKI Elements collaboration with Vicotrias Secret recent catwalk collection from the winter rage.

 

http://brand.swarovski.com/Content.Node/presscentre/news/news-specialprojects/Victorias_Secret_2012.en.html#/en/presscentre/news/news-specialprojects/Victorias_Secret_2012

 

 I like how the snowflakes have been placed to create a lattice pattern and various sizes have been used to make it appear to extend from the centre as if it was growing out over the body. I may incorporate this idea into my garment for which my print will go onto.

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Design for Death Architecture

http://www.designboom.com/competition/design-for-death-architecture/

Winner First Prize POST COMMUNITY by Marta Piaseczynska + Rangel Karaivanov from Austria. - http://www.designboom.com/project/post-community/

Designer's own words:

"In times of accelerating urbanization and densification as well as an increase of the amount of visual media occupying the space of the city, cemeteries face the challenge of keeping up their relevance as a public urban space. Historically cemeteries were at the periphery of the city, over time they were integrated into the urban fabric as a network of green recreational areas. They are able to create an atmosphere of silence and piece but loose significance in the media loaded city of today.
Our project tries to develop a mediated cemetery that works as an interface between the city and the community of the decedents. The starting point for this was Aldo Rossi’s design for the cemetery in Modena, a house for urns, with no roof, no doors and no floors. It is a building that represents a community, a city of the passed-away. Our concept was to give this community a way to communicate with its environment by forming and changing space and light. Built on to an existing building in the centre of a city it would be visible from multiple viewpoints all over the city. Every urn describes a pixel of a three dimensional screen that displays its dynamics to the surrounding.
The design consists of four main elements; the crematory, a two storey plinth that sits on top of an existing building; a spiral ramp that leads to the main space of remembrance and creates an atmosphere of procession; the atrium space which consists of a glass-mirrored floor to reflect the sky and the cloud of urns to remove the ground and place the visitor in the centre of a space with no horizon; the frame and the movable urns which define and constantly change the volume, light and atmosphere of the space.
By calling out the name of the decedent, the urn will move towards the visitor; the other urns adapt their positions in order to make the way free for the called urn. Though this not only single urns but entire family trees or other connected people like school classes etc, can be called at the same time to move towards the visitor. This creates a dynamic that is communicated towards the city.
The urn itself consists out of a container for the ash, a space for memorabilia and a light that can be edited and reprogrammed by the visitor. It is fabricated out of light-weight translucent composite materials and aluminium for all mechanical parts. It is connected over three points to the frame and moves on rails through induction. Each urn moves according to a set of rules, the entity of urns develops complex motion.
The way up is long.. the only sound you can here is the whistling of the urns that move smoothly inside the frame, the humming of far distant city life three-hundred feet below. You hear a man calling a name, not the name of a person but of a company. Twenty-seven urns start to move towards him and organize so that they are all next to each other. He places a stone in each one of them, waits a minute and leaves. The urns, as organized as they were before move back into the complex cloud of the cemetery. At the end of the ramp you finally reach the atrium space; a space with no ground. It is difficult to describe the space you are in as it is constantly changing the form, the light, the wind blowing through the gaps, the atmosphere. A small group of people are gathered; a person dressed in black places a new urn into the grid. Everyone walks to the urn, waits for a second or two and continues walking. After the last member of the group, the urn closes slowly and disappears into the cloud to join the community.
Cemetery at Night"


This design competition is interesting to see how others have responded to a brief for incorporating death in architecture. It brings out their personal views of how they want to remember the dead in memorials or structures that would aid bereavement.

Garment District by Bart Hess

http://www.designboom.com/art/bart-hess-in-future-perfect-at-lisbon-architecture-triennale/

Bart Hess in Future Perfect at Lisbon Architecture Triennale

Bart hess creates digital artefacts which are a representation of what the future of fashion could look like

In his new work ‘garment district’, commissioned especially for the exhibition future perfect (on show in the museu da eletricidade ) a programme of ‘close, closer ‘ at the 3rd Lisbon architecture triennale, we see the Dutch designer slowly dipping a model into a large tank of melted wax, using the viscous substance to explore the shapes and forms of the human body.

image © designboom 

Bart Hess explains: 

‘our bodies are end­lessly photographed, monitored and laser scanned with millimetre precision. from this context of surveillance, facial recognition, avatars and virtual ghosts, we imagine a near future where digital static, distortions and glitches become a new form of ornament. for the youth tribes of future perfect the body is a site for adaption, augmentation and experimentation. they celebrate the corrup­tion of the body data by moulding within their costumery all the imperfections of a decaying scan file. shimmering in the exhibition landscape is a network of geometric reflec­tive pools of molten wax. their mirrored surface is broken by a body, suspended from a robotic harness, plunging into the liquid. a crust of wax crystallises around its curves and folds, growing architectural forms, layer by layer, like a 3D printer drawing directly onto the skin. slowly the body emerges, encased in a dripping wet readymade prosthetic. it is a physical glitch, a manifestation of corrupt data in motion, a digital artefact. they hang from hooks like a collection of strange beasts and frozen avatars. body prints, imperfect and distorted and always utterly unique.’

Do Ho Suh Lehmann Maupin

Image © do ho suh courtesy the artist and lehmann maupin, new york and hong kong
photo by taegsu jeon

"korean artist do ho suh presents his first solo exhibition at lehmann maupin gallery in hong kong, a site-specific installation of sculptural artworks. the collection is a continuation of his new york specimen series, which designboom previously covered here, and consists of six life-size replicas of various household appliances from his personal apartment on west 22nd street in manhattan. a bathtub, toilet, medicine cabinet, radiator, kitchen stove and refrigerator are all structurally rendered in full-scale, using the artist’s signature polyester material. the near-translucent fabrications reveal each item’s inner workings, exposing the technical, semi-architectural framework of their build. the almost weightless wire structures are an extension of his study of themes surrounding cultural displacement, the establishment of relationships within new environments, and memories as both physical and metaphorical manifestations."

This work reminds me of  Macato Murayama's blueprint like Inorganic Flora flowers.
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Macoto Murayama

 

Image from : http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/artscience/2013/05/macoto-murayamas-intricate-blueprints-of-flowers/

Inorganic Flora for Corporate Video of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory

Macoto Murayama cultivates inorganic flora. First, he chooses the plant and finds the real flower, for example the exquisite Lathyrus odoratus L. Second, he dissects the flower cutting the petal and ovary with scalpel and observes it with magnifying glass. Third, he makes sketches and photographs the parts of dissected flower. Forth, he models its form and structure using 3ds Max (3DCG software). Fifth, he renders separate parts and creates a composition using Adobe Photoshop. Sixth, he imposes admeasurements, parts names, scale, scientific name etc. Seventh, he prints out Lathirus odoratus L. at large scale printer and frames it... Here it is, The Flower of Totalitarian Scientific Conscious: properly fixed, totally measured, strictly nominated and distinctly shown. It is not only an image of a plant, but representation of the intellect’s power and its elaborate tools for scrutinizing nature. The transparency of this work refers not only to the lucid petals of a flower, but to the ambitious, romantic and utopian struggle of science to see and present the world as transparent (completely seen, entirely grasped) object. Paradoxically, this scientific challenge to measure the Universe might eventually become one of the sources where art of Murayama draws its strength of fantasy and odor of romanticism, becoming a part of Botech Art, symbiosis of Botanical Art and Technology.

Portia Munsoneti

Portia Munsoneti began creating flower images in 2002 after the death of a close person left her pondering the fleeting lives of flowers and people.
"While walking in my garden images of flower arrays came to me. I imagined flower mandalas that were reminiscent of suzanies from Uzbekistan and the vivid garlands of fresh blossoms I had seen used as religious offerings in Thailand. Using the mandala, the circular form that in Eastern religions represents the universe, I meticulously arrange flowers from the garden into combinations of color and form that exaggerate the vibrancy of both. Sometimes I slice into buds and append blossoms onto one another. As with all my work, a closer look at the subject reveals hidden secrets – in this case, the flowers’ hairy, sticky, or poisonous parts; pollen; seeds; and the occasional insect.

To make these mandala images, I use the scanner like a large-format camera. I lay flowers directly onto it,

allowing pollen and other flower stuff to fall onto the glass and become part of the image. When the high-resolution scans are enlarged, amazing details and natural structures emerge. Every flower mandala is unique to a moment in time, represents what is in bloom on the day I made it."

I enjoy how Munsoneti includes animals in some of her pieces as I was looking for how other artists, include and represent death in their work.

Paper illusions

Artist and designer Isabelle de borchgrave creates paper dresses inspired by the early twentieth century all out of paper. 

Textiles and Interpretations of Death

Textile Patterns by "Hacking Cameras to Death"

When a computer starts acting up, slowing down, or otherwise interrupting the preparation of an important presentation, most people get frustrated, but artist Phillip Stearns gets inspired and has created a line of textiles based on the patterns that emerge when electronics overheat, freeze up, or otherwise crap the bed.



http://www.wired.com/design/2013/08/glitch-textiles/#slideid-203841

 

Recycling the Dead

Kerry Greville believes that the human body has resource potential after death. The Central Saint Martins student, who's pursuing a master's degree in textile futures, is exploring the provocative notion that we can—and should—extract chemical components from cremated remains

http://www.ecouterre.com/recycling-the-dead-proposes-textile-products-from-cremated-remains/

Sylvia Ji weaves textiles into her beautiful Mexican death obsession...

The Day of the Dead looms large in these macabre yet strangely attractive acrylic on wood paintings, but with Interwoven Ji has moved away from the traditional dress and colonial era ballgowns of her previous collections, introducing shawls and blankets as a distinct but organically enmeshed element. This series also sees more abstract work, with camouflaged skulls made of petals, leaves, birds and animals gently pushing out at the viewer from a nearly continuous background with the effect of an optical illusion, hinting at the decay in nature and the transience of beauty.

Sol de Oro
acrylic and gold leaf on wood panel, framed
36″ x 24″

 

http://www.weheart.co.uk/2013/07/19/interwoven-sylvia-ji/

 

Susan Silas Dead Bird Photography

COURTESY // ARTILLERY MAG

“Dead birds can be an endless source of fascination. Throughout history, birds have occupied prominent and diverse roles in art, folklore, religion and popular culture. In religion for example, birds have served as either messengers or priests for a deity, such as in the Cult of Make-make on Easter Island where the Tangata manu (bird-man) presided over a competition to deliver the first Sooty Tern egg of the season to the village of Orongo.

Susan Silas, in her most recent exhibition at CB1 Gallery has cast herself both as a modern day purveyor of bird lore and a shaman of bird dreams, documenting through a series of remarkable photographs the process by which these creatures slowly decay and return to the earth…The fact she has chosen to document them in various stages of decomposition speaks directly to our own human need to understand the death process, and ultimately, or more profoundly, to attempt to arrest and control the mysterious and the unknown.”

 

http://www.spiritofspider.com/2011/11/shaman-of-bird-dreams-susan-silas-dead-bird-photography/

 

Presentation for Practice Project