Orange Design - Digitally Printed on Crepe Silk  72in X 42in

Purple Design - Digitally Printed on Crepe Silk  72in X 42in

The intention behind these textiles was to use methods of both scanning and photoshop manipulation to alter the context of an original object. The original inspiration for this textile collection came from multiple different artists work, such as the work of Proenza Schouler, Ainsley Hillard and Pipilotti Rist. The colours and manipulation of the images were what inspired me most. Looking at multiple different sources of inspiration and styles of work, from textile designs and fashion advertisements to short films, made it possible to create work that was inspired by others but all the while being able to stand on its own. Using a reflective acetate paper, that was originally wrapped around a gift I was given, was the starting point of my recontextualising. Taking the paper that would have been discarded if not for my manipulation and recontextualization into a textile that would be used for an apparel piece, hopefully be worn by many, was the goal of this work.

The process of scanning in images of the paper and then editing them in photoshop is how I digitally abstracted the original scans. Using photoshop to select colour ranges and then paint on similar or contrasting colours made it possible for me to alter the same scan and come up with completely varying outcomes from one original scan. There were many stages when I thought I had arrived at a final design, this being hard to decide when my work was resolved or needed more attention, I would print out the designs onto paper to see how the designs looked printed in contrast to on the screen. Narrowing my designs to three worth of printing on fabric, I produced test prints of the three designs on multiple different types of fabric. In the long run I would like to create an entire collection using my designs on multiple different fabrics including silk for shirts, denim for jackets and synthetic fibers for making puffer style jackets.  

The horizontal lines on the textiles are an ode to the process of scanning images. I used parts of one of my scans that had been obscured due to the distance at which it had been scanned, leaving streaky, string like lines on the image. Scanners record strings of data from an image by passing a series of sensors strung along a line bar over the image. These lines were not visible in the original scan but I juxtaposed them onto the image in slightly different ways on each textile, making aspects of the scanning process visible in the final designs.

I made the decision to print the recontextualized designs on silk due to the contrast between silk and the texture of the original paper, furthering the idea of recontextualizing. The final application of these two textiles would be their use in making multiple work shirt style shirts for both mens and womenswear.