“Neither in tailoring nor in legislating does man proceed by mere Accident… In all his Modes and… endeavors an Architectural Idea will be found lurking; his Body and the Cloth are the site and materials whereon and whereby his beautiful edifice, of a Person is to be built”.
Thomas Carlyle, “Sartor Resartus,” 1833 (The Tailor Retailored)

Being Dutch and living in America has meant that my life and artistic process are entwined on two continents. My cultural traditions are rooted in civic responsibility, a work ethic tempered by socialism and the constraints of Calvinism. This is in contrast to the U.S. where individuality, more so than community, is celebrated and encouraged. The work is rooted in civic responsibility, in austerity, and certain kind of self-denial. My work is based on the concept of clothing as metaphor that examines the precarious balance between the constraints of social norm and our private desires. This conflict between self-determination and dependency is a quest for me on a personal level.

The work I make becomes a receptacle for introspection to distinguishing between what we are and what we have learned to be and desire. As I would like to make an analogy to architecture as a receptacle of introspection, the shelter as much as the body and clothing functions as a place for addressing our understanding of self and culture.

Annet Couwenberg