REPLICA isn’t a concept, its an experience, real people's feelings. We often internalise others expectations or interpretations of us and I think it’s important to create more dialogue around that. It struck a cord to me that the idea of one’s ‘Blackness’ being measurable or definable is absolutely absurd- I could never really make sense of my ‘Blackness’ because it isn’t a real thing that one’s identity can be measured by or attributed to. Your identity is not only skin deep - it’s so much more to do with culture, lived experience and society, and to conceptualise it into race almost undermines and suppresses that. ‘REPLICA’ explores people’s identities as a replication of their lived experiences, surroundings, struggles, accomplishments, belonging and unbelonging. It also concurrently comments on the culture of stereotypes, assimilation and appropriation.
Deconstruction is a really key theme both figuratively and literally throughout the collection. I wanted to deconstruct identity, gender, race and religion and this comes through in the illustrative style of the prints which feature portraits, family photos and key memories from myself and those I documented. The silhouettes are mostly unisex and can be worn by both males and females and I explored unconventional combinations such as denim and pvc, lace and leather. It was all about going back to basics and relearning/reconstructing. I’m from a textiles background so texture is always an integral part of my design. I used denim and leather as core fabrics in the collection as they are worn by people in all walks of life - rich, poor, old, young, local, foreign, homeless or priviledged. I have denim which appears like fur, printed and patchwork denim, laser cut and combined leathers. They cater to everyone in some way or form, yet through different processes and manipulation they can appear to be completely different materials altogether.
There are strong references to the black panther party and hip hop movements (ranging from the 60s through to today) which represent simultaneous moments of both pride and struggle - berets represent uniformness and solidarity whilst bold colours and varying textures reflect the individuality of each person and deviation from the stereotype or assumed identity. I collaborated with Adidas and Dr Martens on footwear, again exploring more serious political ideas with softer, delicate hand-painted illustrations. I love the combination of digital and graphic processes with more free, detailed and labour intensive artisan craftsmanship. Unconventional would be a great word to sum up the collection.