The Texture of Identity: Fashion and the Body in VR – FESCH.TV

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

This conversation took place live in the VRChat installation IN MY OWN SKIN during the premiere at CPH: DOX. Although many of us spend our lives online, this time of pandemic has shown that, despite our technologies, we remain embodied, intimately connected to and dependent upon each other and the natural environment. Although digital spaces are being rapidly colonized by large corporations, often perpetuating existing political, social and economic inequalities, Mumbai based textile artist Loise Braganza, who created the garments for “In My Own Skin,” will explore how these spaces might become laboratories for rethinking our relationship to clothing, the body, identity, representation, sustainability, labor, and pleasure.‘In My Own Skin’ is an interactive documentary photography project which examines the performance of identity. Amateur models were asked to choose a unique, handmade garment, created by Mumbai textile artist Loise Braganza, that represented who they really are and be photographed by Tagger Yancey IV in their own homes. The interactive installation, housed in VRChat (accessible by VR headset and via PC), purposefully rejects a passive, “neutral” viewing experience. Rather, the photos are placed in archetypal architectural structures, complicating any easy reading of identity. Moving through the structure, visitors “undress” the photograph and, in doing so, confront their own preconceived categories of identity. Visitors to the exhibition choose a customized avatar, thus becoming the de facto model/performers in the exhibition.