The Space Within

The greatest creativity can emerge from the most basic. Clothes were originally used by hunter-gatherers as a means of protection from the elements of nature. With time, they developed into something more. The fashion industry took them to a new level and a new understanding. And yet in this industry of great creativity and style there are a few who stand out more than the others. Who go back to basics and draw an inspiration which surpasses all. 

This is not about the artist but Art that stirs something within the voyeur. That inspires them to look beyond the ordinary and to search within themselves for a truth that they were not looking for. That they did not even know existed.

Elizabeth Delfs is an artist who studied fashion and textile design. Her textile creations draw inspiration from material culture; how a textile has evolved over time, the processes that were involved in its creation and the forms that it seeks to take. She merges individual and collective (an anthropological perspective) ideas and produces visual creations that some would say have an architectural base.

Indeed, her creations speak – not only to her but also to her audience. They ask how they should be draped; what form they should take; even how one should exist as an individual wrapped in cloth.

 Elizabeth’s designs use simple textile techniques like pleating combined with the use of industrial materials like foam and fly wire. She also uses print and colors to create an illusion in her garments. Her creations have an ethereal quality – they do not allow themselves to be limited by notions of gender, beauty and even use. They can be worn or even placed on a wall. And most importantly, they do not limit.

 

 

The main quality of these creations is that they bring in unfamiliarity. They force the individual to think and to move beyond norms and usual disciplines. They are a rendering of space through objects. They question the ordinary.  But more than that they gently force the individual to explore a space within themselves and to come up with answers. For art is a medium through which one can attain Freedom.