Repurposed billboard garments for TPR fundraiser

A series of one-off garments made for the 2023 The Physics Room’s fundraiser.

Made from billboard canvases from 'Invasive weeds', a 2022 TPR exhibition by Hana Pera Aoake, Wesley John Fourey, and Taarn Scott. Each billboard held an extract of a longer text written by Aoake for their then-7-week-old baby. In them, the swamp that lies beneath the present-day Ōtautahi Christchurch city is addressed as a site which remembers, hears, knows, mourns, and rages; each billboard was an assertion of the presence of the land within and before and beyond that of the concreted city. These billboard skins were repurposed into wearable pieces which hold the powerful message of the original text: the earth (soil, swamp, water, weeds) is a living entity to be acknowledged. The tote bags are lined with waxed cotton canvas. The dresses have second hand polyester fabric for the draped parts. The whole suite of pieces were made to use all of the fabric, and produce no waste. These pieces were taken back to the installation site of the original works to be photographed. Worn by Kahurangi Carter and Honey Brown.