conscious matters
As I learn to trust and develop my intuition, I notice how my human relationships develop as well as my more than human relationships. I am taking the time to resonate in wonderment. I wonder, does history only repeat itself when the wounds of the past fester and go unacknowledged?
Embodiment speaks of how we carry our body, how we feel in our body, how we move in our body, and how we relate to this body—our first skin—our existence. Our second skin—clothing adds another layer of embodiment, of relation and energetic movement. Embodiment is intuitive awareness. Empowerment comes with awareness.
In Fashionopolis Dana Thomas says: “Clothes are our initial and most basic tool of communication. They convey our social and economic status, our occupation, our ambition, our self-worth. They can empower us, imbue us with sensuality. They can reveal our respect, or our disregard, for convention. “Vain trifles as they seem” Virginia Woolf wrote in Orlando, “clothes… change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.” This dynamic relation between our view and the world’s view of us is a living narrative. Commercial projections interact with ones creativity and imagination. The narratives of trends have become exhausted by the saturation of fast fashion. It is as if the profit driven fast fashion is the fabricated manifestation of imperialism and delusional supremacy. A long time in the stitching.
“The end expression of imperialism is climate change” says Dr. Rupa Myra. The sustainable mode of expression is lived authenticity. This cannot be bought. Not even with distressed denim. Authenticity is the embodied story. I would like to acknowledge the story of pre-distressed denim – a genuine and authentic story in and of it self. A story embodied by products of mass creation speaks of the resilient factory workers; of the consumers who want a taste of authenticity yet are still buying into the pre-made stories of the media instead of creating their own; and of the exponential linear organization models.
When we read between the threads, the truth of the matter speaks clearly. We hear through the channel we are tuned to.
When I think of exhaustive resource extraction from the earth, I think of the wars. I think of the essence of those resources and the stories that they embody. As we meet these materials in our every day lives as consumers, what do the materials say? How do we relate to what we consume and what we throw away?
“Every day, billions of people buy clothes with nary a thought—not even a twinge of remorse—about the consequences of those purchases. “ says Thomas. People may not have or express conscious awareness of the impact of their purchases. Even if they do, there are spectrums of responses to this awareness. Purchases are made in many ways such as need, occasion, expression, and ‘therapy’. Is the proclaimed therapeutic act of consumer purchasing attempting to fill a void that clothes will never be able to fill? The void will always be the void – an essential aspect of existential cycles. It is through acceptance, self-love, and the tenacity to listen to our intuition that we cultivate nourishment. Each of us may discover this essence through our own journeys.
Option: Dyeing Used Garments With Natural Materials
If waste is a by-product of consumption, these two ritualistic narratives are reciprocal in nature. Dyeing with earth matter is a conscious matter. It is a choice we can make in this climate to cultivate this reciprocity. To me earth dyeing embraces life as a journey and transforms with the cycles. Like micro ego deaths with every excretion turned compost for the garden. It is a dance through the aethers, with each other, with the more than human world. It is a transformation through the void of letting go and embracing the mystery. It is then the embodiment of our journey.
Citation
Dr. Rupa Myra. Homebound: Decentralizing the Power of Healing with Dr. RUPA MARYA /169. From The Wild podcast April 10, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcl9Qku5CpM 39:30
Dana Thomas. Fashionopolis 2019. 5-8 Hardwich Street London ECTR 4RG UK. Head of Zeus Ltd. Pg 3
