Monday, 14 April 2025


What does Leunig's cartoon say to you?
Is it the small things in life? Those everyday moments and details, seemingly insignificant, which can bring joy, connection and a richness to life. Simple acts of kindness. Appreciating nature. Enjoying moments of quiet reflection.

For the CdG Fall 2025/26 collection, Rei Kawakubo's comment was reported as, "Small can be mighty. She thinks we're a little bit tired of big business, big culture and global systems. What about the small things that happen over all continents, everywhere - aren't they global, that's not big?"

Look at how she wished some of that to be expressed. 
Become small in a corporate suit, could it be?


And here doing it again with plaid...big-small small-big...fascinating. There's something swish swish about it.

In so many ways the small things in life are the big things in life.
Needs compared to wants. 
The Essentials in Life, encompass the basic needs for survival, good health and well-being.

Water is the basic necessity for the survival of all life forms that exist on earth. It's considered one of the reasons why earth is the only planet we know of, that supports life.
Water is vital for human survival and health. It maintains body temperature, transports nutrients, lubricates joints and removes waste products. Water is a primary component of the human body, making up 50-70% of our weight. We can survive between 3-5 days without water, whereas it can be several weeks survival without food, although it wouldn't be fun!

Two images that deliver a message of life....


Access to clean water is a human right, but millions of people do not have reasonable access to it. They have to travel or wait in line for hours to get it, or settle for contaminated water and thus risk their health and that of their children.

The work of English contemporary visual artist, Lucy Orta, has always interested me,
as it explores issues strongly linked to social and environmental reflections of the basic needs for survival.
Orta's background is one of an honours degree in fashion and knitwear design during the late 80s, which helped to guide her expression that the clothing and textile crafts are powerful tools for democracy and activism within contemporary art.
She has undertaken fascinating projects, working in partnership with her husband Jorge Orta (Studio Orta).
Much of the Studio Orta output is that of performances, interventions and installations, so lives on through photography, film and video.
Two excellent videos to view, if you would to know more about Lucy Orta and the Studio Orta work undertaken over the decades. The first one is more about Lucy in a personal sense, and the second one is a lecture she is delivering with lots of great slides and information of Studio Orta's various artworks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4j_8ZT3fns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7tR1I9LDKU

The Earth's natural water resources, or lack of them in many communities are strong topics in Studio Orta work.
OrtaWater Bottle Rack, 2005




This traveling exhibition presented small unassuming structures turned into large-scale sculptures and contraptions that raised the awareness of food and water resources.
Here is access to an exhibition document, with the focus being the Water section. Great images to view and informative text.https://issuu.com/papress/docs/lucy-jorge_orta_screen 

What about one of my wall hangings, which relates to water...




In 1993, Orta was invited to exhibit and undertake a workshop, 'Refuge Wear' at the Salvation Army shelter in Paris. The workshop proved to be a great development in her work, as it was more than just an artist offering a skill. The participants had something to give to the artist, so the event became one of 'co-creation'.
Orta talks about this in the 2nd video I provided earlier. It is very interesting, as she comments about how Maison Martin Margiela worked in a similar vein in one of his collections. 
Here is Orta's Argyle "pull-chausette, taking old worn socks with holes in the heel and creating a wonderful patchwork ".

This is Margiela's sock sweater. When I researched what year he created his, it's reported as being for the Fall 1991-92 collection, so they are pretty close in time.

In that Refuge Wear workshop Orta came up with an umbrella skirt.

Made me want to share my Vincent's sunflowers umbrella skirt

Pringle of Scotland's A/W 2017 collection, was a collaboration with Lucy Orta. Pringle of Scotland is known for knitwear, in particular its geometric argyle patterns, so limited collection pieces were created from cuts of recycled Pringle of Scotland argyle jumpers. A percentage of each sale of these collaborative garments was donated to the Heba Women's Project, a charity chosen by Lucy Orta.
(Heba Women’s Project is a unique training & enterprise project providing women from diverse cultural backgrounds with a safe and welcoming place in which to make new friends, learn new skills and engage in enterprise activities to suit their particular needs and family commitments.)


One last Orta work I connect with is 'Portable Protest', which was a response to the invasion of the city of Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. The work was first commissioned by the V&A for a performance held on 25 June, 2004.
Fifty volunteers wearing OrtaStudio garments, staged a passive performance of protest in amongst the tombs, sepulchres and war trophies displayed in a V&A gallery.


I resonated with someone's comment regard this Orta work, "turned the symbolism and the uniform of war into a statement of peace....visual subversion".

I did just the same thing with my 2023, 'Anti-War Piece'.







Much of Studio Orta work relates to the issues of migrant people. Migrants face numerous challenges in meeting their basic needs, access to food & water, shelter, and healthcare, not to mention education and employment.

Many artists work to give migrant voices a means of being heard, in what can sometimes appear an unsympathetic world.

Banksy.
In recent years Banksy has been working on refugee crisis topics. This piece is a tribute to the late Steve Jobs. It shows him holding an original Apple computer in one hand, and a black bin bag over his other shoulder, alluding to the fact that this world-changer was the son of a Syrian migrant.


E.B. Itso
In this work, Danish artist E.B. Itso presents features of migrant people, who he deems to be neglected by society. To create the work, the artist travelled to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a well-known access point of refugees from North Africa. He collected remnants of abandoned clothing and other items discarded by the migrants after they have arrived by boat. Itso is interested in the idea that the refugees literally shed a layer of their past when entering a new country. He goes about presenting his work by dipping the garments in paint, then printing them on paper, and framing them with frames made from driftwood collected off the same beach. Itso gives all the proceeds from the sale of these art works to charity.

Ai Weiwei
In this provocative recreation, Ai Weiwei is seen posing as three year old Alan Kurdi, the drowned Syrian infant, who in 2015 was photographed lying dead on a Turkish beach . The artist's aim in this controversial project was to bring awareness to the desperate and often tragic refugee situation.

In September of 2017, Ai Weiwei collaborated with Anish Kapor on a walk across London in solidarity with the thousands refugees walking across the world.

Want to see them go about it, check this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38XHOKTKVeU

Ai Weiwei also made a documentary on the plight of refugees across the world, 'Human Flow'.
He grew up as a refugee, and if you view the video in this link, he will tell you his story, and parts of the stories of some of those he filmed in the documentary.

I have just collected Ai Weiwei's memoir from my local library.
It is stated to be a memoir that represents a remarkable history of China over the last 100 years, as well as informing the reader of Ai Weiwei's artistic process...that particularly interests me. But I am also interested in the story of his father, a poet, whose creativity was stifled by a repressive regime. What effect did that have on the father and how much did it shape the son?

I created a small cross stitch of Ai Weiwei, with materials I had to hand.




Here is a student from Barcelona and what his creative response to the refugee crisis is.

It is a very thoughtful work, which he hoped would make other people think about the situation.  
https://www.voanews.com/a/migrant-art-work/4443377.html


In 2016 I delivered a blog with a 'Journey' theme, and I created a piece on which I embroidered the main migrant routes across the world.

And when teaching my Yr.9 Fab.Tech. programme a couple of years back, I based it on Migration. My concept was, all of us living in NZ, come from a migrant background. 


The research studies hopefully helped the student come to appreciate aspects of that fact regard clothing, a basic need.
Two student's creative results...


Just one last poignant aspect concerning that of the migrant and survival.
'Migrant Mother'.

This famous image relates to the migrations forced upon people, in America during the depressed 1930s. The image, captured by photographer Dorothea Lang is a full display of poverty and uncertainty, .
This link will inform you of so much relating to the photo.
https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/dorothea-lange-migrant-mother-sa/

I was very taken with Lange's statement regarding her limp, which was the result of childhood polio, "It formed me, guided me, instructed me, helped me, and humiliated me. I've never gotten over it, and I am aware of the force and power of it".

The Essentials in Life

'New Essential' was the title for the Comme des Garcons Spring Summer 1999 collection. Earlier CdG collections had been all about deconstructing clothes and reassembling them in ways not seen before, particularly on the Paris fashion week catwalks. It was wondered if this process was a way for Rei Kawakubo to get to the essence of clothes making, as she had no traditional training in "fashion design".

The 'New Essential'  collection was sort of about where dressmaking normally starts, working with basic patternmaking bodice and skirt blocks, shaped by darting, which create the sheath dress shape. 
But, with Kawakubo style, it was single-sleeved jackets safety pinned to the sleeveless other side, or one long half attached to a shorter other half. 
Was this RK reaching the essence of making clothes? 



Someone asked at the time, "Where will she go from here?"
Well, 14 years later she delivered the 'Not Making Clothes' collection! Sculptural, unconventional pieces that challenged traditional notions of clothing.
There is a little something in these 2 garments from that SS 2014 collection that could say sheath dress.

And look, in the Fall 2025/26 collection 'Small Things', two fascinating sheath dresses.


This was my inspired 'New Essential' sheath dress.
The Essentials in Life
Water-Food-Shelter-Clothing
Plus access to  Education-Health Care-Fulfilling relationships

The Scottish biblical scholar, William Barclay (5/12/1907 - 24/101/1978), wrote that, 

"The key to happiness lies in having something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for." I think the interesting factor of the three is the "something to hope for". Do you think all the people buying a lotto ticket tonight (Saturday) will be going through that hopeful experience....oh, if I win.....dreaming of how happy all those millions would make them feel.
Google 'hope' and this is what you get, "Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a specific outcome or event to occur. It's a belief in the possibility of a positive future or outcome, even if it's not certain. Hope can provide motivation, optimism, and a sense of well-being, especially during challenging times."   
Like the young student above, who hoped his art project would get people to think about the desperate refugee issue. 
Yes, I am always full of hope when I send off a blog or a post in one the the FB groups I have set up... will it make an impact, will someone respond, will someone connect, will someone support my work? Often times it doesn't happen, despondency and dejection can kick in, but I don't know what it is within the human spirit, within time, away I go again!

My final reference, 'Small Things Like These'


A historical fiction novella by wonderful Irish writer, Claire Keegan.
The protagonist, coal merchant Bill Furlong, loving father of 5 daughters, is delivering coal at the approach of the Christmas season. As he delivers coal to the local convent he witnesses a shocking scene, when he comes across a distressed girl locked in the convent's coal house. Memories are brought back to him about his own background, which make him agonise about what he should do regard the situation.

A film has been made, directed by Tim Mielants. Here's a link to the trailer  

If the film is on a par with The Quiet Girl, I will be all on board! 

SLTSLTBsigning off concerning small things that are the big things.

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