JESSICA WORRALL
SERRANO IN MUGLER
BY BRONZINO IN ATELIER VERSACE
When and how did you discover that you were a creative person?
I’m not sure I ever discovered myself as a creative person. It’s just something I’ve always been aware of as a huge part of my identity. As a child, I was drawn to anything related to art, literature, or fashion. I used to make clothes for my dolls and make little rooms for them to live in. I think I often lived vicariously through them as well. I cut off all the hair of one of my dolls and dyed the skin of her head pink. I even made her tiny little punk outfits. That’s not something I would have ever dreamt of doing in the small village of rural North Yorkshire, England where I grew up. But I think that sense of play and imagination are what carried me forward into wanting to work in the arts. I studied theatre design and still work as a costume and set designer, but now, I combine it with my personal creative practice as a collage artist.
Why did you choose this medium for expressing your creativity?
My collage work started during the 2020 lockdown. As with a lot of creative industries, all of my theatre work was cancelled. It was a difficult time for everyone, but for me, it was also a blessing. It gave me some breathing space to think about what I was doing creatively. Although I love my theatre work, I am always working within someone else’s parameters—whether that be a director or playwright—and during lockdown, I remember watching this old David Bowie interview where he spoke about what it meant to be an artist and how not being too safe was a good thing. I realized that was how I felt about theatre, a little bit too safe. So, I wanted to see what I could do on my own without the safety net of a team and I just started playing with ideas in my studio. The collages really came out of that. It was definitely a risk for me, but one I was ready to take. I was drawn to collage because as a creative process, it feels similar to how I design for theatre. It brings together different materials, forms, and ideas to create new meanings. It also has a long history of being used as a powerful social commentary, which is important to me and the themes shown in my work.
WEYDEN IN TOM FORD
Describe how you feel when you are creating something.
What I love about creating my work is how much I am discovering and learning, mainly about the history of depictions of women in art and fashion and the connections this has to the evolution of a woman’s role in society. As a woman, it’s empowering to be able to do something you love and feel it enriching your mind.
Discuss the concept behind these images and what message you hope to send to your audience with your work.
My collage work is definitely related to my theatre work, especially my costume design. I’ve always been concerned with ways of depicting status and class through clothing. People have used clothing to show off their wealth and status for many years, but what interested me the most was learning about the Sumptuary Laws of the Middle Ages. These laws were allegedly brought into the UK and other parts of Europe as a way of curbing excess spending, but in reality, they enforced a social hierarchy. These laws imposed strict rules as to who could wear certain fabrics, colors, jewels, etc., with, of course, the more expensive and exclusive pieces reserved purely for the ruling class. The more I found out about these laws, the more it reminded me of how designer labels function as a similar kind of status symbol in modern society. My work tries to look further into these connections and it all gets tied up in the language of desirability or the ideals around femininity. I love these kinds of connections. Many of the images I use, whether it be a Renaissance portrait from the 15th century or a modern day couture outfit, have been created by men. I’m so fascinated by how this has shaped and influenced our ideals around female identity.
IN VIKTOR AND ROLF
IN GUCCI
Does your creativity reflect events in your life or your own personality?
Interesting question! I’m from a working class background and I was the first in my family to go to a university and work in the arts. I feel like I’ve always had a kind of split identity in that I seem to exist in two totally separate worlds. I guess that’s why I’m interested in bridging gaps or finding connections between opposing forces. For instance, a lot of the outfits I feature in my work are pieces I could never wear myself, mostly because I find them problematic. To me, they conform to external and often times unattainable ideals of the female body. But I know this has more to do with my body confidence issues and unwillingness to be defined by the way I look or dress. What’s interesting to me is that to other women, the very same outfits are empowering and liberating. So my role as an artist is not to judge or impose my ideals, but instead, to ask questions.
What does being an artist mean to you?
To be honest, it’s just a huge privilege to be able to make work that other people seem to find interesting.
If this collection of images was a playlist, what three songs would be on it?
“Fashion” by David Bowie, “Vogue” by Madonna, and “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran.
