UNFOLD from January 30 to April 1, 2023 at The Stamp Gallery | University of Maryland, College Park | Written by Oliver Foley
Every day, before you enter the public eye, you select an outfit. Whether by instinct, intentionality, or necessity, you make a choice. Sometimes, you just throw on what is most comfortable. Other times, you carefully craft your outward appearance. But no matter how you choose, the clothes you wear shape your identity for that day. UNFOLD, the show currently on view at Stamp Gallery, explores how the garments we choose for ourselves can be used as a tool to modulate identity. Four different artists provide four different takes on how our clothes define us. Through these four stories, the viewer learns, chapter by chapter, how essential clothing is to our own humanity. UNFOLD asks the viewer “What function do your clothes serve?” To help the viewer find their truth, Elliot Doughtie, HH Hiaasen, Mojdeh Rezaeipour, and Hoesy Corona each bring their own answer to the table.
Although clothes may not constitute an entire identity, everyone is evaluated by their attire, whether they like it or not. In order to control the external perception of one’s self, one must fashion their outfit like a tool. The purpose of this tool? To take what is inside and make it visible. Our internal lives are locked inside of our minds, and only through outward expression do we free it from the confines of our psyche. Our choice of garments allows us to broadcast this internal life to anyone and everyone. In a way, this is the same role that art plays in our society. We use art to convey thoughts and feelings which otherwise would necessitate intimate conversation. In UNFOLD, Elliot Doughtie calls attention to the group mentality of performative masculinity through the repeated imagery of the athletic sock. The inadequacy of the unpaired sock takes the intimacy of hushed discussions and the unspoken hang-ups of inner life and puts it on display. The clothes we wear expose our insecurities as loudly as they champion our prides. Garments and undergarments are not simply tools to display what we want to be seen, but to veil what we want to hide. Sometimes, caught up in our performance, we are betrayed by our outfits.
The outward expression of identity can also trap the true self within. The uniform, mandatory and standardized by definition, connects the individual to the system, the greater organism. These outfits serve as a label of function, identifying the wearer by their use as a tool, concealing the human underneath. The bus driver, fast-food employee, metalworker, and mechanic may wear the garments of their function, but they are far more than a cog. HH Hiaasen acknowledges and refutes the role of clothing as a “reducer” of identity in their series “Ventilated Workwear.” Cut-out grids puncture through the outfits, opening the uniform to reveal the person underneath. Through these modifications, Hiaasen helps the individual survive their time as a uniform.
The judgmental perception of our appearance is inescapable, and our clothing is one of the few tools we have to control our interactions with strangers. In order for our garments to convey our true identity, rather than a false one, choice is necessary. Yet, in Iran, this mediation is enforced. Mojdeh Rezaeipour’s untitled works in UNFOLD draw from the ongoing movement in Iran to free the women of the nation from the restrictive law regarding dress. These clothing laws serve as a symbolically rich focal point in the movement’s battle against the oppressive policies of the authoritarian regime as a whole. Covering oneself is a common religious practice in Islam, but clothing turns from a tool into a weapon when it is forced onto others. Rezaeipour’s artworks demonstrate the need for the autonomy which transforms clothes from a destroyer of identity into a blooming flower of individual expression.
It is often said that one’s actions define one’s character. If we were to apply this standard to humanity as a whole, we are beyond unforgivable. Even ignoring our actions towards one another, the extent to which we have ravaged our home planet is tremendous. Our species is unavoidably defined by our treatment of the Earth. The final chapter in UNFOLD’s exploration into garment identity is Hoesy Corona’s “Climate Ponchos.” Although most fashion is designed to mediate the reception of our identity, Corona’s “Climate Ponchos” mediate our identity with nature itself. The poncho is a tool to protect against the elements, and in that way it is a communicator between the individual and the natural world. This earth which we have destroyed now rejects us through natural disasters of our own creation. There is little that our clothing can say or broadcast to walk back these transgressions, but acknowledging our failures and wrongdoings is one step towards inspiring change. By wearing clothing which champions the environment, we interlink our own identity with our identity as a planet. Strengthening this bond on an individual level is an important step towards repairing our relationship with the Earth. Corona uses the connective qualities of clothing to bring awareness to our part in the greater organism of the Earth.
The way we perceive others, the way we perceive ourselves, and even the way that we guide our actions is brought about by that seemingly small choice we make every day before we leave our room. For better or for worse, our clothing makes us human.
UNFOLD will be on view in The Stamp Gallery at the University of Maryland, College Park from January 30 through April 1, 2023.