I recently submitted a shirt to the open call entitled “Looking for Justice, Beauty, and Love” at Germantown’s Imperfect Gallery.
I thought about a lot of things in the process of making this shirt and want to share the context. So I have compiled my notes..
Looking implies not being clearly seen, not being transparent, but still having vision. Something is up ahead. I used white fabric with holes on the back of the shirt to represent the unclear present and the forward motion of looking ahead.
The fabric is slightly transparent which allows you to look through.
Fog and clouds are white and challenge the seeker to look harder
When you’re being called to look for something it can be an invitation from spirit to connect. White is often a color used to represent spirit.
Spirit is like a friend sitting on your shoulder and whispering in your ear. Beckoning you to feel the beauty in things that we haven’t yet thought of as beautiful.
Purple is another color often used to represent the spiritual chakra. I put it on the shoulder to be a companion in the noticing and identifying of beauty.
Justice is to behave according to what is moral or right.
To be just, or right, as opposed to culturally significant one would need to be aligned with their inner compass or intuition.
I’ve used a hood as a way to block external influences and go inward.
Our third eye sits near the forehead, between our eyes and is the power center for intuition.
The color associated with the third eye is navy blue. I added navy to the part of the hood that rests near our third eye to encourage intuitive thinking and just decision making.
If I had to describe beauty as a feeling I would say that it feels soft and soothing. I used pink to represent this. It reminds me of the safety of a womb and the nurturing love between mother and child.
The gradation of the pink shades were used to represent transformation and movement. And to illustrate how our idea of what’s beautiful changes with the passing of time and lessons learned. What was once an extreme challenge can in time and metamorphosis be seen as a crucial turning point. There is beauty in the changing of perspective.
Just implies balance and equality. Not only in being fair, but also in that it is not more than enough or less than enough. It is just enough!
Four equal panels on either side of the torso represent the balance and equality of justice.
In order to chose to make decisions based on morality and compassion, one would need to be grounded in understanding and empathy.
Roots are reddish brownish and live on the base of a plant.
Red at the base of the shirt represents sending energy down to our roots and feeling connected.
We make fair decisions when we are connected.
We feel love when we are connected
We notice beauty when we are connected.
In seeking we either inadvertently or purposefully gather perspective. These perspectives offer understanding and an opportunity to make informed decisions.
I made the red panels on the torso different height to represent stairs and the gradual climb and the gathering of ideas that lead to new perspectives.
I used yellow stitching near the elbow for two reasons. Your elbow creates a sort of pocket and I wanted two things to be in the pocket. One is your power. Yellow is the color used to represent the power chakra and having your power in your pocket could be useful if you were feeling pulled by the persuasion of outside influence. Two is the golden rule; to treat others as you wish to be treated. Keeping this idea in your pocket ensures that you believe in justice, beauty, and love for those around you.
Love feels round. You give some and you get some. I cut the green chest piece from a circle. I used green because it’s the color used to represent the heart chakra and I put it on the chest because it’s close to the heart.
To me the ultimate feeling of beauty is when two people speak their truth and both feel understood. I used light blue, the color of the throat chakra, near the throat, to enhance the speaking of truth.
Thinking of the saying; Beauty is only skin deep, I used blue stitching on some of the red panels to represent blood and our inner workings.