String and Chain, 2005

 

The project connects the codes inherent in white menswear shirts with those of the pearl, and the codes of link-patterned women’s fashion with those of the chain.

What looks like a vast, white string of pearls hangs from a hook. Closer inspection reveals the pearls to actually be 27 white menswear shirts modified and shaped to form individual balls. The many balls are linked by a thick string passing thought the sleeves. Hanging from an oversized white hook, the pearls are entwined by a chain. This chain has been sown out of multi-coloured clothes patterned with chains, links, belts and buckles; a recurring motif on women’s blouses, scarves, shirts and dresses.

Medium: 33 white shirts; chain-patterned blouses, scarves, and dresses; polyethylene balls.

Dimensions: String of pearls: approx. 12 metres. Chain: approx. 16 metres.