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Higbee Gallery | Noël Palomo-Lovinski, Guest Curator

Public confession has become increasingly popular in our society as an outlet for individuals to expunge guilt, share personal tragedy, or express secret desires. Confessional outlets range from nationally televised talk shows and confessional websites, to personal communications and intimate journal writing.

Women in particular often communicate personal information about themselves to form a sense of community or bonding and as a way to rationalize or accept the feelings that they have. Despite this natural impulse, many women have sought anonymous forums such as popular confessional websites that allow them to divulge honest hidden feelings of inadequacy or frustration.

My work has been particularly concerned with the tension that exists between the enduring archetype of the caring female and the nature of such contradictory confessions. I have chosen dress as the primary medium of expressing these ideas because it acts as such a strong visual metaphor for identity. Quotes were taken from several confessional websites and used as a variety of decorative texture and pattern in digitally printed fabric.

The contradictions inherent in the nature of these confessions became inspiration for the form of the dress piece. The confessions themselves act as a type of juxtaposition, with the fabric layering and construction mimicking the posture and dilemma of the confessor.