jamie oosterhuis

My interests for this body of work lie within recreating historical garments as a way to connect to Dutch, Irish and Scottish ancestral traditions. Through first recreating extant originals by using historical patterns and materials, I am then able to reconstruct the same garments with updated techniques and explore various modern fabrics. I am fascinated by forgotten beauty, labour and techniques of creation, as well as the functional or anti-functional purposes within these pieces. Through the wearing and documentation of these garments, I attempt to understand how these historical pieces can be worn by my modern body on lands that are not mine. I am conscious of the history of my ancestors upon these lands and I am set on questioning how this shapes my work.