I propose to subsume dress art and visual material culture through a multidisciplinary approach. By having researched the sociopolitical significance of craft and knit craft, it has come to light that craft is still classified as an amatuer practice and largely ignored despite being a symbolically loaded practice. By utilising craft for political means, craft’s traditional purpous is changed and contradicted. In a way it can be seen that it is a bastardisation of craft. I draw further inspiration by theorists Jean Baudrillard and Frederich Nietzche. His theories are illustrated in my work by continuously representing and rerepresenting imaginary and real objects, as seen in his theory on simulation and simulacra. The repetitive nature of embroidery and crochet is illustrated through this process as a chain of signifiers. One stitch leads to the next to the next, in my reading some suggest this rythmic process can be likened to the stringing together of thoughts and the end product becomes an obejct of memory. By using a time and resource consuming technique alongside precious metals and gemstones, Nietczches critique on consumerism and production is illustrated and contemporary consumer culture is challenged. Tradition, craft and the future of a language is held in a forgotten, little thought of practice. The fetishization of fabric in contemporary popular culture I wish to critique this notion by exploring the relationship we have with thread and products thereof through my work.
