Gary Graham: Looking Back to Look Forward
May 31, 2021 – November 28, 2021
A history-loving designer storyteller, Gary Graham is inspired by material culture that blend fictional characters with historical narratives. Blurring distinctions between past, present and future, his work offers a creative approach to the tactile and sensual attributes of textiles and the drama of contemporary historical interpretation. Employing historical fabrics and historic textile production methods in installations and performances, he engages with history as a present lived experience.
Inspired by the Shaker cloak, one of many articles of clothing manufactured by the Shaker community in the early 1800s, Graham recreates his cocoon-shaped coat in such a way that calls to mind questions we grapple with today – what is the purpose and the nature of our work and how can we mindfully organize our workspaces to be fruitful to that end? In this serene period room, Graham reimagines the Shaker cloak, once sewn and produced by loving hands. If the cocoon coat is at once an object of beauty as well as a covering that protects and shields, how are its remnants valued and honored in becoming new products of human thought?
Taken out of context – filmed in a round barn that resembles a 19th century cathedral of light and wood – the cloak comes back to life, personifying the nature of the Shakers’ work ethic in Graham’s service. Looking Back to Look Forward has clairvoyant qualities that cross time and space. Rooted in work, community, and craft, the exhibit explores the importance of place and the tangible elements that define our lives.
American artist and fashion designer Gary Graham (b. 1969) studied painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art and graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Upon graduation he moved to New York City and began working for artist and designer J. Morgan Puett, learning the craft of garment dyeing and less formal approaches to textiles and historical interpretation. A former costume designer (working for Julie Taylor on The Lion King), Graham established his own label and in 2010 was honored as a CFDA/Vogue finalist. From his studio in upstate New York, GaryGraham422 is Graham’s site-specific project that allows space, history and community to determine textile production at Thistle Hill Weavers in Cherry Valley, NY, and to inform the making of intimate collections. Working with institutions such as The American Folk Art Museum, The Peabody Essex Museum and The Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Graham mines museological archives for inspiration and incorporates pieces into his own collections as textiles or surface treatments. In The Conversation, presented in 2015, he collaborated with artist Meredith Monk to recast her iconic 1979 recording Bird Code within an installation of historic furniture and textiles. In 2016, Graham filmed Palacetor, a trailer casting seven female archetypes, including Kara Walker as “the General” and Parker Posey as “the Magician.” In 2017, Graham worked with the Rhode Island Historical Society to design a textile collection inspired by three locales, showcasing the work with an installation of furniture, video, performance and sound. Opens May 30
Our thanks to the Center for Craft, whose grant helps us support makers whose work expands the legacy of the Shakers.