Ms India Flint
India work inhabits a nebulous region bounded by fashion, art, theatre and science and is represented in the collections of several European museums. Her investigations of clothing as the intimate architecture of the body are complimented by research into plant dyes. Felt making and stitched embellishments extend the visual language of her textile surfaces. Completing a Master of Visual Arts in 2001, she published the thesis "Arcadian Alchemy : Ecologically sustainable Dyes for Textiles from the Eucalypt Forest". Presently she is conducting further post-graduate research while continuing to experiment with plant dyes as Artist in Residence at the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens.
Fashion, Ecology and Identity
Contemporary society sees most consumers far removed from the production of the commodities they use, and the clothes they wear. The post-industrial textile industry has led to an overabundance of readymade clothing with an intentionally limited life, following uniformly set paths. Reconciling the demands of fashion with the responsibilities of sustainable existence offers challenges to designers and consumers alike. Akira Isogawa, in his recycling of kimono fabric into new garments at the cutting edge of fashion, gives us literally a new fashion story from the collection of 'old narratives' embodied in the rehabilitated fabric pieces. In an environmentally responsibly society, darning and patching would be seen in a new light. In considering fashion in relation to ecology and identity, the option of customization using plant dyes invests the garment with tangible evidence of a philosophical position in regard to ecology and sustainability. For an environmentalist, a garment thus colored, and ultimately bearing decorative signs of repair may become an object of pride, rather than the shameful evidence of straitened circumstances. For the designer, this brings a diversion from slavish commitment to global developments in fashion. The discourse between fashion and sustainability will inevitably impact on identity.
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