Enter the fleshly site-specific, multi-sensory installation by Cairns-based, Canadian-born artist India Collins.

“As the materials I use in my weaves sat against skin, they inevitably harnessed energy and still hold embodied memory and meaning.
Previously these clothes may have enabled us to be seen as we chose, they may have contributed to our individual style and identity, or told of our social status. They may have marked milestones or major days in our lives.
These materials may have once kept us protected, they may have sexualized us, they may have empowered us, spoken for us when we had no words,
or assisted us to go unnoticed through our days, allowing us to either fit in or stand out in society.
Ultimately each clothing item I incorporate into an art piece, retains the intimate memories of women’s experiences within its fibres.

I hope this project and installation shines a spotlight on the multiplicity of women’s stories, our plurality and commonality, the cause & effect of positionality and how bias, assumption and opinion inevitably lead to stigma.”

How you can contribute

With confidentiality ensured, female-identifying audience members are invited to contribute an item of pre-loved clothing along with a story of personal significance.

I would like to offer the opportunity to submit an intimate account, share a secret, purge a memory that no longer serves you or perhaps extend on a story or experience that empowers you.

Over the next year I will weave new works with your items, wrapping together the individual and collective narratives that you share, hearing and reading your stories that are intrinsically connected to the experiences had while wearing these clothes.

This new sculpture will honour your contributions and intimate storytelling; ultimately celebrating the process of transference and renewal whilst paying homage to local women’s vulnerabilities and victories.”

Please make contributions within the gallery exhibition at NorthSite OR you can contribute a story here.

This project, ‘e VULVA lution’, developed in partnership with NorthSite Contemporary Arts and Situate Art in Festivals and is part of a two-year research and development process that will grow in scale and scope, to present the next multi-sensory installation ‘re VULVA lution’ beyond the cocoon of the gallery within the public sphere in 2024. This social practice extension will weave and reflect the contributions of women’s textile objects and life experiences contributed to the artist during their experience within ‘e VULVA lution’.
This project is supported by the Regional Arts Development Fund; a partnership between the Queensland Government and Cairns Regional Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland. NorthSite is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. NorthSite is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.