pARTicle accelerator

It’s the last week of Winter Term and boy have I been busy! This past week I have been writing my final paper for Sufism, studying for my Spanish final and oral, and working on my final sculpture project for Intro to Sculpture.

I was charged with creating a sculpture based on some human-made architecture. My sculpture was inspired by the Fashion Industry. I was interested in the fashion industry’s role in labor exploitation and modern-day slavery. I tried to portray this concept by using a metal, jail-like grid as the backdrop of my dress and covering it with frilly ribbons, bows, and bright colors to distract from the grid.

I placed mirrors within the grid to force the viewer to stare at their reflection as if they were part of the sculpture to portray how we ignorantly promote the same exploitative practices as the Fashion Industry does by buying our clothes without doing thorough research. I didn’t necessarily want to blame the viewer for their consumerist role in this exploitative relationship the Fashion Industry has with foreign countries, but just have the viewer acknowledge they did have a role. I used a lot of caution tape and barbed wire to further this concept of exploitation masked by the aesthetically pleasing nature of the Fashion Industry.

Check out my sculpture below!

Kamala is a first year student from the land of Aminé (Portland, OR). She enjoys going to concerts with her friends and singing along to every song on the radio. Kamala is also a Sagittarius with a Capricorn moon, even though she still doesn’t know what that means. She is passionate about social justice, politics and stress knitting. You can always find her with a glass of milk at the LDC (Language and Dining Center) or impulse cleaning her room past 11 pm.