The flowerers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master in Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
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Date
2024
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Massey University
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Abstract
The Flowerers engages with ideas of tangible and intangible familial threads, driven by the impact Alzheimer's disease has had on my maternal bloodline. I aim to preserve lost memories by translating them into material objects, bringing together my two design disciplines, fashion and photography, to develop a process for creating multidisciplinary works, contributing to a legacy project. The approach to the work has been a way of processing my grief and reconnecting with my family heritage. As my grandmother recounts stories of her own and other family members' pasts, recurring floral motifs emerge as a prominent theme, shaping the focus of the project. Employing sustainable and alternative photographic processes such as lumen, cyanotype and phytogram printing, the abstract characterisations convey visual metaphors, symbolising life and death, portraying stories of four generations of women from my mother's side, concluding with myself. These images are printed onto dead stock fabrics and constructed into garments using minimal waste fashion processes, embodying the tradition of dressmaking passed down through my maternal lineage. Photography is integral to The Flowerers, serving as both its inception and conclusion. It delves into the intricate nuances of memory and the hybrid interpretations woven throughout the project. The constructed garments are exhibited in highly conceptualised fashion photographs, to contextualise the complex inter-generational story of my family tree.
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Figures are reproduced with permission.