Different Bodies Know Different Things

"Different Bodies Know Different Things" - Rosi Braidotti.

The meaning that clothing acquires depends on which body wears the outfit and in what cultural context. A pink fishnet stocking on the legs of a twenty-year-old has a different effect than the same stocking on the leg of a 75-year-old. And how does a Christmas sweater relate to the traditionally Arab kandora in the wardrobe of an eight-year-old boy from Groningen? Or a skirt around the hips of a cisgender man compared to that same skirt around the hips of a cisgender woman?

We started our work with our own wardrobe as a starting point. This is enriching but also limiting. We are white, slim, and have a Western European background. Obviously, it is impossible for us to represent all people and all versions of themselves. In our co-creations, we explicitly engage in a dialogue with other perspectives. Over the past few years, we delved into the wardrobes of students in Istanbul, youth from Izmir, people at the food bank in Groningen, those aged 55 and over in The Hague, a mix abled group in Tilburg and young asylum seekers in Oisterwijk. Together with them, we created intimate portraits in the form of performances, video works, and documentary material about who you are, in plural.

"The journey through my wardrobe was a journey through my life"

- Anita (participant in The Hague)