Reconciliation: The Trees Will Wear Our Clothes

As a former business leader in the Apparel and Fashion world, I am in the process of coming to terms with my former career and my art practice that developed after a traumatic brain injury in 2014. As my brain healed, inexplicably I started to pick up detritus on my walks. Part of my “picking-up” feels like a rescue, and an offering of “care”. Often items are run-over, mangled and in that destruction, I am drawn to color, line, shape and wear.

This “collection” unintentionally developed in the lead up to the 2022 Fall Fashion Week and my upcoming residency at Wassaic Project. An article about a white tank top sent me over the edge. As I contemplated the materials I would take to my residency I was compelled to re-use thrifted t-shirts as the vessels to communicate the fear I have for the environment. I developed the conceptual work in 2D leaving the rest of the process for my time at Wassaic Project.

Upon my arrival, I saw a part of a tree in the wood shop “scrap” pile. I took the whole piece into my studio, laid down on and with it, in meditation. As I thought about the future of the planet and the impact of the apparel industry on it, I thought of the year 2050 and that we will not be able to make new clothing. I envisioned the earth filled with textile waste, and no people. In that moment, “The Trees Will Wear Our Clothes” popped into my brain. I knew then I would use the trees anthropomorphically letting the viewer look into the eyes of the tree wearing a t-shirt and reconcile their relationship with clothing consumption.

A side note in all of this, in September of 2022, Yvon Chouinard the founder of Patagonia, transferred his wealth and future profits of Patagonia to a trust that will dedicate all of its efforts to fight climate change. I had the absolute privilege to spend a day with Yvon at the Patagonia offices. I am forever grateful for, and inspired by, that time.