I’ve been a theatre designer in the UK for over thirty years working in both mainstream and experimental theatre. Over the past two years I have also been creating a series of more personal works that take the form of digital collages.
In my collage work I juxtapose portraits of women from art with images of modern day couture as a way of questioning the external forces that exist within both art and fashion which shape and enforce our understanding of the ideals around women’s status in society.
Throughout the history of western art the depiction of women and thus ideals of femininity and the female body have continuously shifted and changed. However there is one constant: from 15th & 16th century portraiture to modern day couture, the female imagery we are surrounded by has mainly been created by men, perpetuating the idea that success as a woman is measured in terms of how attractive she is. Clothing has always been used to re-enforce these ideals, but paradoxically it can also challenge them, liberating our sense of self and asserting our identity. The question I like to ask with my collage work is: are we really wearing what we want, or what somebody else wants?
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