Body, Nobody, Somebody, Anybody
Freddie Robins in conjunction with Mat Fraser
and Catherine Long
Wordplay is the theme of this knitwear,
designed with Mat Fraser and Catherine Long.
The wording is strong and confrontational,
but also has humour and twists of the unexpected.
Importantly, it had to be wording that had resonance
for Mat and Catherine, and that they were happy to wear.
Mat’s text reads, “Short Armed and Dangerous”:
This is a play on “Armed and Dangerous”.
It also refers to Mat’s kick boxing skills,
challenging common assumptions that disabled people
are passive and somehow harmless.
The word “One” is used on Catherine’s
glove and sweater
The glove has “One” embroidered on the knuckles.
The word “Up” is embroidered on the thumb.
When Catherine flicks up her thumb she is “One Up”.
Daisies and a butterfly are embroidered on the sweater.
These have personal significance for Catherine.
A banner running through the daisies read “At One”.
Catherine is “at one” with her one arm. Why isn’t everyone?
Freddie writes about these pieces:
“These pieces … were as much about the consultative process
as the finished pieces themselves.
It was a true collaboration, with all decisions being made jointly.”
The only part I did alone was to actually make the garments.
Freddie Robins graduated from the Royal College of Art
with an MA in Textile Design.
Her practice is within the field of knitted textiles,
which she finds a powerful medium of self-expression.
She challenges ideas of normality and the human body
She is a member of the Tait & Style design
group,
who produce embroidered and felted fabric design
for fashion and furnishing accessories.
She has exhibited individually and as part of Tait & Style
throughout Britain, as well as in Paris, Frankfurt,
Tokyo and Hungary.
Mat Fraser is an actor and comedian.
Most recently he has starred in Metrosexuality,
on Channel 4 and the Virgin Mobile advertising campaign.
His successful solo show “Sealboy:Freak” has toured Britain
“Hallelujah, I’ve finally found
someone
who can satisfy all my woollen needs,
rectifying a whole lifetime of being left out in the cold.
I now feel fashionable in wool”
Catherine Long is an international performance
artist.
She was the subject of a sculpture by Marc Quinn,
Shown in an exhibition in the Give and Take exhibition
at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and in the Royal Academy
summer exhibition.
With Mat Fraser she also featured in Dazed
and Confused
modelling fashion by Alexander McQueen.
Of her collaboration with Freddie she says:
“This is a statement about my feelings
of wholeness and completeness.
I wanted to highlight and celebrate the beauty
in the “unconventional” body.
I wanted to challenge society’s perceptions
and the stereotypes created
by advertising and the media.”
© The City Gallery, Leicester and the artists: 2001
This site was built by Ju Gosling aka ju90 during an artist's residency at Oriel 31 in November 2001