Let's Get Into Digital (Jun - Jul)
‘Thamizhachi’, Fashion Tales 2020+1, ‘Constructing the Body’
Let’s Get Into Digital is a monthly compilation of fashion events that exist in the digital space. Unbound by locale, these round-ups will highlight virtual exhibitions, webinars and talks as well as digital resources.
Thamizhachi: A Digital Museum of Tamil Women Under Construction
Screenshot of the ‘Objects’ section of the Thamizhachi webpage.
A project by Brown Voices, a Singapore-based collective of Indian theatre practitioners and playwrights, ‘Thamizhachi’ is conceptualised by curator-researcher Vithya Subramaniam, supported by the directorial work of Grace Kalaiselvi, and with writing and translations by Raj Thiagaras. This digital museum is presented under N.O.W 2021, which is the third and final iteration of the Festival of Women. ‘Thamizhachi’ remedies the “invisibility” of the Singaporean Tamil woman in the narratives, memories, spaces, and popular discourse of her own nation. By including everyday objects in the museum, ‘Thamizhachi’ emphasises that these are a part of the ever-evolving assemblage of Singapore Tamil women, whose identities are constantly under construction.
Visit the digital museum here.
From Bullets to Bangles
Published in ‘The Phnom Penh Post’ on 10 June 2021, Roth Sochieata writes about a group of craftsmen in Siem Reap who turn old bullet cartridges into jewellery. In 2015, British jeweller Madeline Green set up her social enterprise Ammo, which teaches Cambodians to produce handcrafted jewellery out of casings from ammunition, left behind from years of armed conflict in Cambodia. In conversation with Green, Sochieata writes, “The idea to make jewellery from the bullets came about when a woman working in a refugee camp noticed all of the creative uses that Cambodians had found for the abundant scrap metal.” Starting her journey as Green’s apprentice over six years ago, Thorn Chantrea has since been trained in marketing, production and display accounting at Ammo. Chantrea now designs her own jewellery for her brand Chan Alanka, with the skills she picked up from Green.
Read the full article by Roth Sochieata here. See Ammo’s website here.
WGSN APAC Webinars: Womenswear Trends
WGSN’s latest webinars for the APAC region feature on a range of topics, covering trend curves for minimalism and maximalism as well as materials forecasts for S/S 23. Our pick is the ‘Buyers’ Briefing: Women’s Key Items S/S 22’, where experts from WGSN will give participants insight into trends and key considerations, such as longevity and environmentally-conscious designs. The webinar on womenswear trends takes place on 25 June.
Register for the WGSN webinars here.
Constructing the Body: Sara Ahmed’s “The Promise of Happiness”
Organised by Malaysia Design Archive, ‘Constructing the Body’ is a reading group that explores discourses of the body. The gathering that takes place on 8 July will be based on Sara Ahmed’s book, ‘The Promise of Happiness’, which provides a critique of happiness through the lens of feminism, racism and queer theory. Participants are encouraged to read the texts provided, to formulate questions to shape the conversation during the session. Previous editions of ‘Constructing the Body’ have examined texts like ‘Caliban and the Witch’ by Silvia Federici and Michel Foucault’s ‘History of Sexuality’.
Find out more about Malaysia Design Archive events here.
Image from Fashion Tales 2020+1. Image taken from Fashion Tales website.