Dress c. 1960

This dress was made anonymously, and seeing the work that has gone into it I feel a great sense of respect for its maker! I am thinking about this anonymous artist working away, carefully applying these shimmering shapes on the black velvet. The shapes are geometric but arranged in a tree-like form, a kind of map or guide. The colored threads are stitched with care and deliberation. It’s so beautiful. Making this dress must have been a meditative process, a dialogue with the materials, the colors, and the forms. It reminds me of Gee's Bend quilts, where the makers are having a conversation with each other across time. It shows how we're all participating in this ongoing exchange of ideas, inspiring each other's creativity. It celebrates ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.