The costume & its story

I've been waiting for this for more than two years! The World of Wearable Art Show in Wellington/New Zealand finally happened.

With that, a dream came true, because that was a big wish of mine: to see my art professionally on stage!

Here is the very first picture, more coming soon!

Here is the garment story:

I started the creation of this costume in 2017 during a completely metamorphic phase in my life, a time when my own fears sought to be seen, inner chains needed to be broken and the calls for deep inner transformation and expansion became louder. The start of a process of self-discovery.

The initial inspiration for this costume was a drawing of a seed pod by Ernst Haeckel. A drawing which fascinates me because of its ambivalence. On the one hand it seemed like a cage and on the other it appeared to be protecting something; protecting an inner life force, something which longs for expansion and growth.
 

The costume mirrors this idea. It can be perceived as limiting or caging the ways of the person who wears it. The field of vision is limited by the mask, covering the true face. Movement is limited, big steps aren't possible. In our lives we often subconsciously create protective armours with spikes and barbs on their surface. They can be useful for our survival. And then one day, this armour becomes too tight, we realise that it is limiting our expansion, our longing for freedom.

In another way, the costume could also provoke fear in those looking on.
At the beginning, it was a  "costume of fears" or a "costume of darkness". Later in the process, as time went on and transformation happened, it became the "Priestess of Transformation". With the wisdom of hindsight, the outright positivity of this in-depth process of consciousness and transformation took on a new magical and natural form that in turn became very powerful. The protective armour of fears preserves our most wonderful inner treasures, which can be found in our deepest depths. And from this protective armour a force arises, the power of one's own transformation. Today, I realise that it is just like a seed. When the time is ripe, the outer cover will fall away (everything that had seemed too tight; the protection which is no longer needed), and the full force of life will unfold.

For me, the Priestess of Transformation is the beautiful and powerful call of a natural and magical transformation. Just like a hard shell protecting an inner fragility but simultaneously such a powerful, transformative life force. It is also a call to change perspective, from one of fear into one of the beautiful opportunity for positive transformation into something completely new and never seen before!

The process of creation was very symbolic and reflected my inner states at that time. Felting is in itself a purely transformative process: loose wool fibres are worked with the hands to form a firm fibre structure. Just as in the universe all life was created from the chaos of the Big Bang, when felting, we have the power to create a new order from a fiber chaos so that something unique and completely new can emerge.

As I was transforming the fibres, I felt as if the same transformation was happening in me. Within me there were structures that needed to be transformed to form new shapes. 

The costume is made out of 100% merino sheep wool using the wet felting technique. Technically the creation of the costume was a challenge that allowed me interesting and new perceptions of the felting process. In terms of technique, it is my masterpiece, bringing together all my knowledge and experience ― years of passionate experimentation with natural materials such as sheep wool and the infinite possibilities of the felting technique.
 

My felt journey began in 2003 with surface work, which I developed through the years by experimenting with precise reliefs, moving on to the construction of complex 3D sculptural art without seams During this time I was constantly looking to find new challenges and to expand my limits. This costume is the culmination of all these stages, all my technical knowledge.

The costume is worked from one single piece, without any stitches, in different stages. I worked on the main part at the beginning of 2017 during a residency in Italy with DHG - Dyeing House Gallery / Prato, who also sponsored my materials.

For me, the elaboration of this work confirms that anything is possible, within this technique, as well as in life.
Making this costume helped me during a personal transition in my own life and gave me an even greater understanding of the meaning, power, and importance of creating art as a way of supporting people through challenging and life-changing situations."

Love Maria

https://heart-transformation.com/