knotjournal-blog

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ANNA BINTA DIALLO- WANDERINGS (2019)

Canadian artist Anna Binta Diallo’s installation ‘Wanderings’ (2019) consists of collages of people and animals printed on photex paper and mounted on aluminium composite and pvc board. It explores how folk stories, language, and myths have an influence on the construction of identity but the way the bodies are wearing clothes- or an abstract portrayal of clothes- seems to represent the attractively confusing and fantastical aspect of garments and identity. A starry suit accessorised with a nebula hat, a galaxy print coat with clippings of (newspaper and book?) texts, and a heavy skirt and top ensemble made up of map images and sheet music cover: Do the (imaginative narratives of) clothes define us or does our imagination define the clothes we all wear? 

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WINTER CITY OBSERVATIONS

How to dress for winter (but at -1 is that even winter?), an observation: Camouflage skinny fit trousers and black sneakers. A browny grey fleece shirt with plaid detailing on the front and cuffs, worn over a hoodie with its hood up. A beanie hat partly showing and accessories in each hand: A hockey stick, bien sûr, in one and sports bag in the other.

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Headbands for wrapping the imagination in seasonal clichés: the bold red of marketed Santa and the greens of pine leaves brought to the home as trees and garlands for the essence of a sweetly scented wonderland. Or the rich red of velvet and the emerald green of velvet too, shifting to a blue in certain moods. Playful or fancy, headbands feel as customary as the ribbon tied around a nicely presented present. 

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THE BAND T-SHIRT

The band t-shirt has always seemed like the ultimate display of self-expression, a clear sign reflecting an individual's interests and (sometimes) ideology, but the commodification of iconic band imagery has made the whole wearing of them kind of unserious and wrapped in stylistic fantasies. Illustrations tend to evoke a playful, imaginative version of the real which makes hand-drawn versions of band t-shirts appropriate. "It just started as a silly idea," say the creators of Les Roches Qui Roulent who also translate the names into French because language is fun.

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APRÈS SKI/SNOWBOARDING OBSERVATIONS

The authentic, the staged, the everyday. If a previous style is revisited and worn frequently is it really a channeling of the past or just a part of the present? T-shirts over long sleeves, an archetype of the '90s, observed today in après ski/snowboarding context: one oversized, one polo; one with slightly combat style trousers, one with loose-fitted jeans. Both females with small beanies and over baggy tops, seated in totally casual positions with beers by their side.

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APRÈS/DURANT SKI OBSERVATIONS THROUGH THE WINDOW OF INSTAGRAM

Red Patagonia jacket zipped up high, beanie on head, refreshments in hand, equipment by side, two close friends and an impatience to ride. Years of local social skiing has resulted in an uncovering of the sweetest places to peacefully zoom, where the snow is fresh and secluded from tourists and the tracks and footprints made are as new as the season. Taking out a bottle of beer from backpack, releasing the top and holding the golden bubbling liquid up to the sun, winter is captured. Picnics, or the essence of picnics, are made uniquely for each season and taking a time out sat casually on a blanket of whiteness, overlooking frozen trees and freezing lakes but with a warmth that comes with being energetic under the sun's gaze, is an example of this

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A headband. 'Il y a des contrasts dans la vie: le silence, le mysterieux, et le visible, l'amusant. Parfois, ensemble, ils sont magique mais parfois ils ne sont pas'

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CORDUROY OBSERVATIONS

From a place that merges outdoor practicality with an air of casual coolness: an oversized shirt in classic autumnal shade, worn open over a sweater and turned up jeans, and trousers in a pale pink- complementing a lilac beanie and grey hoodie trimmed with scissors at the bottom

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'...stars are out, twinkling overhead, scattering their magic upon the blazing campfire. Smell of smoke sinks into clothing and the newly knitted yarn that's arrived into the world, the heat of the flames a long-awaited hug.'

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'Clambering over rocks, crunching through leaves, purposefully ascending mountains with a lightness in the steps. "Le hêtre kills other plants with its roots. In general roots of trees and plants talk to each other, signalling when it comes to danger." Être, le hêtre veut être.'

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'Adventuring, creating a bond with nature and like-minded people seeking out fun. First kisses, sparks of affection. A future that's uncertain but a present that's assured. Weaving the moments and colourfulness together' 

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The Little Book of Dress-Up: summer edition. Featuring Mary Quant, Thierry Mugler, knit shorts, and swimwear. 

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NOTES ON SWIMWEAR

'Swimsuits were then so cumbersome that only stylized graphics could make them attractive, and wearing them made women look like heavily wrapped packages' wrote Anne Hollander about early 20th century swimwear in a 1990 article for American Heritage. Thus we have a1920s illustration by Charles Relyea with swimsuits worn with small heeled shoes and knee high socks and- in the case of one in all black- a red cape making the female look like a superhero. Here bathing suits aren't just for bathing, for swimming, but for a lifestyle of leisure and promise. They're knitted into the everyday becoming just another item to be worn when casually presenting a state of mind.

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THE COWICHAN SWEATER

Knitting isn't just a hobby or means of practicality but a bringing together of identities, with methods and designs being a way of understanding a community. But how do we identify what's authentic or not when it's so easy for the communities to be appropriated? It's in the backstories, not necessarily evident at first but more reason to seek out the process behind how a garment's made. 

With Cowichan sweaters, beavers can symbolise the future or as one knitter is quoted as saying in Sylvia Olsen's 'Working With Wool': "we purposefully leave a coloured stitch knit out of the order of the pattern or something like that. We don't call it a mistake. It's a window. It's where the spirits come and go."

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HACKED

Toronto based creative Tom Hobson overpowered the conventional workings of a knitting machine and programmed it to stitch a portrait of his face. He also made a zine about the inner workings of a knitting machine because anatomy is so much more easily understood when playfully illustrated.  Q: Have you always used a knitting machine or do you hand knit as well? A: "I've pretty much only done machine knitting. I've always wanted to make my own clothes and I'm also an engineer by training so the whole knitting machine hacking thing was in my wheelhouse."  Q: Is there an anecdote about the face? A: "The screaming sweater comes out of me being a generally anxious and funny person. Also at the time I was testing out an ADHD medication that was basically amphetamines."