S!X 2005

This invitation-only international exhibition was held as part of the 6th International Shibori Symposium and curated by the two leading figures of the World Shibori Network, Yoshiko Imamoto Wada and Hiroko Watanabe. The exhibition included an international range of artists and the brief was to explore the possible ways in which the shibori method of textile pleating and dyeing could be used in the creation of garments. The exhibition aimed to cut across fashion, sculpture, and spatial installation, erasing such tidy classifications, and the artists were encouraged to respond to cloth's tactile surface, much as painters interact with canvas and sculptors work with clay. S!X was chosen as a leading exponent of the contemporary, rather than traditional, use of shibori. The aim was to employ shibori techniques to create fashion rather than decorative display pieces or so-called wearable art, which in reality rarely rise above the level of the kitsch. For the exhibition, an embroidered fan-pleated skirt, a shibori-pleated and dyed cardigan, and an accessory made from a jacket lapel, which further explored the way in which traditional tailored garments might be put to novel uses, were created. A measure of the success of the work was the degree to which it freed itself from connotations of traditional, indigenous craft techniques. S!X was one of only two recognised fashion designers in the exhibition, which also included international textile artists. These included: Patricia Black, Joan McGee, Marian Clayden, Mascha Mioni, Angelina DeAntonis, Aisling McLaughlin, Genevieve Dion, Hiroaki Ohya, Ray Harris, Jeung-Hwa Park, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, Barbara Rogers, Yoshiki Hishinuma, Yoko Ito, Carter Smith, Mie Iwatsubo, Futoshi Tanaka, Mary Jaeger, Yvonne Wakabayashi, Elisa Ligon.