Arts

The meaning of clothes

The first of two student-organised exhibitions to be shown at the University Gallery opened this week.

The Absent Wearer brings together a number of items of clothing which illustrate the complex interrelationship between art, craft and fashion. It has been curated by a group of MA Gallery Studies students from the Department of Art History and Theory and forms part of their assessment.

The pieces selected for display demonstrate the desire of contemporary textile artists to free themselves from conventional art forms and the use of traditional materials. Many of the artists exhibiting works are young, innovative textile artists who live and work in East Anglia. They include Caroline Broadhead who addresses notions of the 'shadow' and its potential for questioning issues of perception, transformation and reality. The work of Susie Darvish combines standard forms of female clothing design with insubstantial fabrics unable to deliver functional durability to the wearer. Through her work, Darvish suggests that traditional notions of feminity are insubstantial and irrelevant and therefore need reviewing for the contemporary female.

Other artists exhibiting include Freddie Robins, renowned for her knitted works, Louise Richardson who shows her work entitled Thermal, a vest constructed entirely of dandelion heads, Lucy Brown, and Israeli artist Nelly Agassi.

Accompanying the exhibition is a lively educational programme designed to examine the expansion of textile art across broader artistic and social arenas and its role in cultural change.

The Absent Wearer will run at the University Gallery (Square 5) from 28 April to 17 May. Admission is free and opening times are as follows: 11am to 5pm Monday to Friday, and 1pm to 4pm on Saturdays.