Art 364B

I am a part of the collaborative Two Girls Working: Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki.  Two Girls Working has taken the position of assets to civic action and dialogue.  Our project Trappings activates dialogue about the complicated landscape of power and its relationship to personal identity by asking women to respond to the question: what do you wear that makes you feel powerful?

Since 2001, we have visited each region of the country and have met with nearly 600 women at 76 interview sessions in fifteen states.  Although Trappings starts with one question about clothing, the project is not about fashion, and to a large extent not even about clothing.  Through the interview sessions and exhibitions, this work allows the investigation of one’s assumptions based on appearance and image.

Trappings has initiated a range of dialogues:  simple descriptions of an outfit’s comfort and practicality as a tool for power, complex analysis of an individual’s movement through class and social strata, the use of sex as strategy in business and social settings, and the use of clothing as a way to connect with cultural or personal history as power sources.

Trappings is a project with multiple parts:  interview sessions where women are invited to respond to the question, what do you wear that makes you feel powerful; site-specific exhibitions with audio, print, and video components; a website, www.twogirlsworking.com, which includes an archive of the interviews by each project participant; a national traveling exhibition; and a book published by Rutgers University Press.

URL:  www.twogirlsworking.com