Last year, I had the pleasure of contributing to the community climate anthology, Into the Unknown Together, where I wrote about my upcycling practice through the lens of collective future imaging and as a way of climate adaptation. I’d like to share the complete essay below.
To learn more and grab your copy of Into the Unknown Together.
Future = Unknown + Familiarity
Unknown = +/- Possibility x Fear x How
Familiarity = Present + (Naivety x Fantasy x Past)
Listening…I begin with listening to the “soul” of the fabric, to hear its wishes for the future, what it wants to become, and the feeling and vibe it yearns to evoke. Imagining…I’m imagining its future, whether its future is with me or with another. Creating the future is work in progress in real-time. Intentionality is sewing by hand. Mindful consumption is clothing from my wardrobe, that’s donated and gifted to me and thrifted minimally. Building from existing patterns. Altering, by acknowledging the present state and knowing what to highlight, remove, and add. Deconstructing in its entirety with the understanding that the past may still be evident and has an impact on what it will become. Deconstructing in bringing two pasts together to create a new future. Acceptance is knowing when the future becomes the present. (Photo Credit: Chelsea Call)
Each day is an opportunity to create our future in how we dress and adorn ourselves. Adornment is expressing your authentic desires and interests of how you see yourself existing in the world. This is a powerful thing to do. Sometimes we aren’t able to fully express ourselves due to circumstances, but no matter what, we as people will always find a way to honor that true expression, from the socks we wear, to how we do our hair, how we apply our makeup, our choice of color and even our underwear.
Through upcycling, I am imagining, conjuring, shaping, and twisting my future from my perspective and contributing to the collective future by creating from what I have. While living in the present, learning, and understanding my past, each decision I make is building my future.
(Photo Credit: Chelsea Call)
Sewing by hand summons me to the present, where it is required and deserving of me to take my time, to be mindful of my strength and intention with each stitch. It allows me to submerge fully into that deep level of trust I’m building and cultivating, that I can create. It’s me. My hands. The needle. The thread. The fabric. It can be done anywhere at anytime, free from excuses. Sewing by hand removes the barrier to entry, that I have to have the “right” equipment, set up, fabric, and notions. It makes clothing design and fashion more accessible to me and to others, instead of being out of reach. There’s a level of personal accountability when sewing by hand. I can’t place blame on a machine or on another sewer. It’s me, I’m responsible for the outcome. Creating my future can be done from where I presently am.
I am actively creating the future each day in all that I do. It’s my responsibility to be accountable and actively participate in creating my future, from individual work to collaboration with other individuals, and the community. The future I dream of and see for the world is one where we are holding ourselves accountable and through that accountability, we are holding ourselves accountable as a collective. (Photo Credit: Chelsea Call)
I’m moving from the place of “I” and individual because we often are caught up in the grandeur of creating a vision for everyone. And when we do that, we aren’t being mindful and aware of what others are able to do. As our collective mentality currently stands, we use this as a tool to not hold ourselves accountable but the group accountable and how can you hold a group accountable when you aren’t holding yourself to those same standards? I’d like us to start small and focus on what it is we can do individually and have conversations with those around us about what they are doing to actively create their future and how it contributes to the overall collective.
Jarifuller 