Wednesday, 18 March 2009

Wessieling- Chinese Dress Now



The image of China has been changing drastically in recent decades and so has the Chinese dress, a symbol of Chinese idenity and femininity, and a fusion od ancient and modern, Western and Chinese. Chinese dress now comprises of a video and a series of scupltures concerning the contemporary perception towards the chinese dress.

I attended the seminar which accompannied the exhibition investigating the development of the Chinese dress from early 20th century to the present and understood the concept of her work on a deeper level.

Wessielling is a London-based visual artist.
Statement:

"My research concerns identities with an emphasis on the discourse of cultural identities in the production of fashion. I am interested in the construction of identities, the expression and creation of an identity when producing fashion, the relation of such identity with one’s locality and the tension within the industry in which it is produced. I have written on the engagement process of Paris-based Oriental designers, examining diasporic aesthetics that is born out of both the place and fashion system in which it is created. My recent geographical focus on China has led me to publish a monograph (Fusionable Cheongsam 2007) and articles on how the identities of the Chinese dress have been constructed through its social and cultural history, popular culture and fashion production.Further to the theme of identities is my practice-based research which draws on the relation between fashion, cities and identities, whereby fashion is acknowledged as a major social force and an interplay of consumer tastes, social habits and personal identities. My installation aspires to consider how fashion represents our cultural selves and such liaisons within the society we inhabit. Projects being undertaken include Fusionable Cheongsam (2007), a solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Centre which considers the dichotomous representations of the Chinese dress by means of a series of installations, and Game On: The World Fashion Conquest, a touring solo exhibition (Vienna 2007, London 2006) which inquires into the economic and cultural role that a homogenised fashion week serves beyond the fashion industry"

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