Culture Couture

Last weekend I visited the 'Tropenmuseum' in my hometown Amsterdam. It is one of Europe's leading ethnographic museums. It certainly wasn't my first visit to this beautiful museum, but this time I came with a purpose: the exposition Culture Couture. Three young students from the Antwerp's Academy of Arts are showcasing a selection of their creations inspired by other cultures. Manon Kündig, Tabitha Osler and Wali Mohammed Barrech.

Tabitha Osler was inspired by a portrait painted by Swiss artist Karl Bodmer who traveled the upper missouri region in the 1830's. The portrait was of a Lakota woman. Tabitha's collection is  called Burning Bush. In her collection she tried to stay true to here inspiration as much as possible. She only used stitching techniques that Lakota women use themselves.

Burning Bush

The ethnic costume inspired by the portrait 'wood red nation woman'  with in the background Tabitha's collection pieces 

Burning Bush

Manon Kündig's collection was inspired by der hobuspöönig, which is a part of the Swiss culture. The costume of this man (see photo below) is made completely of out wood chips. She translated this volume and lightness in to a series of inflateble objects. The items are made of latex. Her collection is called Blowjob. One of the pieces is a inflatable skull (which unfortunately wasn't on display at the Tropenmuseum).

Hobespoonig

Blowjob

Blowjob

Wali Mohammed Barrech's collection is inspired by the Feredja Burka Mostar. Which is a traditional Burka from Bosnia Herzegovina. With this collection he deals with questions raised by the progress in modern medicine and the way pharmaceutical drugs affect our lives. He translated some of the most successful pharmaceutical drugs suchas Xanax, multi-vitamins and HIV drugs into silhouettes by blending the purpose and the effect of each drug with its respectice chemical composition.

Feredja Burka Mostar

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for more info go to: www.tropenmuseum.nl (dutch, german, english, french, spanish, italian)
for more information about the collection Reset, go to: http://www.catch-fire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Idolitryline.pdf