Exhibitions

How do our surroundings shape us? From the neighborhoods we grew up in, to the natural world we inhabit and the community of people around us, our environment can greatly influence our perspective, outlook and artistic practice. In the age of the internet and global inter-connectivity, to what extent does our geographic location still inform our sense of identity?
 
In Homegrown, student artists of FIT's Urban Studio club explore these concepts of home, environment, and culture through various media and artistic approaches. While visiting this exhibition, the viewer is invited to ponder their own history and reflect on what home means to them.

Exhibition creatively conceived by Urban Studio President Mariel Tepper, Fine Arts BFA Advisor: Melissa Starke/Fine Arts Department

 

Power is part identity, part behavior, and part physicality. The way we outfit ourselves can play an outsized role in conveying power to others - whether it be the pink “pussy hats” at the 2017 Women’s March or the Cleveland Cavaliers’ coordinated Thom Browne suits during the 2018 NBA playoffs. However, power is not easily defined. It is political position and economic status, but also military strength, sexual authority, rebellion, and protest. Each form of power has found sartorial expression in a variety of ways, from gray flannel suits to latex fetish wear, and from gilded brocades to distressed jeans.

 

Power Mode: The Force of Fashion explores the role fashion plays in establishing, reinforcing, and challenging power dynamics within society. It includes both men’s and women’s clothing from the 18th century to the present, organized thematically to concentrate on five categories: military, suits, status, rebellion, and sex. Each section investigates how certain designs and garments have come to be culturally associated with power, as well as how their meanings have evolved over time. The exhibition also examines how fashion designers have interpreted these stylistic archetypes — both to convey and to subvert power.

 

Read more about Power Mode.