Marie Hazard Solo Show October 26th. 2018
Opening Friday Oct, 26th / 5-8PM / 2018 – Dec. 12th.
EXHIBITION IMAGES | TEXT | WORKS
« JUMP, RUN, BREATHE » Marie Hazard
Clothes are undoubtely the most intimate part of our self identity.
They relate both indirectly and directly to elements of social, political, artistic and religious meanings. Existing since the dawn of time, they have evolved through a changing culture in society from the practically of the early hunters, to the fashion and cultural statements clothing has become today. However, they have always conveyed a message, they are archetypes: the stories in the materials expressing a balance between tradition and modernity. Clothes are the metaphors of movement. Evolving with the times and the personality of the person who wears them. Clothes are not a static accessory, they are a very part of the human form. When wearing them, they move, they run, they jump, they protect, they breathe, they dance!
My weaves are a symbol of dance and movement in the space.
What are their limits ? Especially with the contemporary worlds addidiction to fast fashion and un- sustainable means of production, garnments show a strong idendity.
I went back and started from a basic and common materiale today, the indigo blue denim. Michel Pastoureau described indigo denim clothing as «the color appeared as a living material … in the meantime the jeans had ceased to be just a workwear.» Blue, Story of a colour, Points, 2006.
I see denim as a cultural symbol of our actual society. It is worn by ordinary people, not seeking to highlight, to rebel or to transgress against anything.
However, denim is more than just a simple fabric, it evokes a uniformity in style, an androgynous piece of clothing which can be worn by every cultural social class. A clothing that allows the wearers to look the same but equally each persons perception of denim is unique and different.
Denim is a universally recognised and worn clothing, not adhering to social codes and sensibilities. The same applies to the soccer jersey; it is worn to the streets of Cape town to the streets of Paris for example. With such an iconic and mass produced material I wanted to manipulate the patterns, logos, advertisements and textures on soccer jerseys. I wanted to create a new approach of this symbol.
Why do people wear soccer jerseys in their daily life? Does it give them the feeling of more than just supporting a team, does the wearer feel they are emulating a sporting lifestyle, do they feel they toocan be the hero of their team, of their nation? This question was a difficult one to answer and I wasexcited to work with this fabrics and to discover the opinions and feelings of those who wear soccerjerseys in daily life. I wanted to speak about common values, which touch everyone. I didn’t want tofocus on the soccer jerseys of one particular team in my work. Instead I wanted to put myself in both players and the audience skin.
My work too is a game, I played with textures, materials and fabrics of soccer wear in my own weave in order to transcribe the contemporary language of identity. In a current world of rising nationalism, what does it mean to personally identify with a team and how does it affect the views of the world.I wove and printed my photographs on a human scale, to invite the public to figuratively go inside, deeper into my work. They can almost wear them and wrap themselves in these ‘woven clothes’. Myphotographs also draw a parallel with the mass production associated with soccer jerseys, contras- ting with the unique and hand made woven textiles I have created.
I am passionating about highlighting, the conflict in identities found in fast fashion and its production today. This is reflected and represented in my work. My prints are flexible and free, they are not confined or controlled by a frame, instead they can move and play freely, the same way a soccerjersey and denim moves in harmony with the body.
Marie Hazard –
Solo Show in Copenhagen / Marie Hazard – 2020