Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art

Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York, USA

10 March - 14 August 2022

A global survey exhibition dedicated to the use of clothing as a medium of visual art, Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art examines work by thirty-five international contemporary artists, from established names to emerging voices, several of whom will be exhibiting for the first time in the United States. By either making or altering clothing for expressive purposes, these artists create garments, sculpture, installation, and performance art that transforms dress into a critical tool. Adopted globally as an artistic strategy, garmenting uses the language of fashion to challenge traditional divisions of form and function, cast a critical eye on the construction of gender, advance political activism, and address cultural difference.

The Ghost of Eliza Jumel, 2015, Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile and steel baseplate, 146 x 182 x 104 cm. © Yinka Shonibare CBE. All Rights Reserved, DACS / Artimage. Photographer: Stephen White & Co.