Mapping Motifs: An Exploratory Journey through Fashion, Cities and Identities, 2006.

Installation, dimensions variable.
Chinese dress in digital printed cotton satin, coloured lens, clothes airer, marble stand, wallpaper.

The work “puts the cheongsam in the spotlight, not only to make homage to a garment that has portrayed a unique East Asian modernity, but also to question our perception and reception of it.

How do we receive the cheongsam? Are we concerned with where it comes from, who the designer is or with the garment’s authenticity? Are we more likely to appreciate it if it’s made by a Western designer rather than a Chinese tailor?

These are just some of the questions raised. Pointing to the problematic of the cultural identity and fashion, the installation looks at the cheongsam as an ontological figure juxtaposed to the fashion’s habitual structure, narrative and its unsavoury relationship with globalisation.”

Dr Nadja Stamselberg (2006)

Apr – May 2006; AVA Gallery, London, UK.

Photo: Paul Burroughs