Artist and design researcher Maja Gunn’s work explores gender and queer identity in relation to clothes and textiles. The exhibition showcases a selection of her art and design projects in the form of experimental garments, textile works, and place-specific installations.
Gunn holds a PhD in Fashion Design and, through her research, has developed design methods that focus on textile expressions of biological sex, gender and sexuality. Performativity, theatrical expressions , and exploratory play are the foci of her artistry.
The PLAY exhibition
- plays with the sexualising (traditionally male) gaze, and exhibits male breasts in silicon to explore notions of desire.
- allows you to try on breasts and play with how your body looks and your expected gender.
- relates lesbian stories and makes a shirt into a ‘lesbian shirt’.
- depicts children imitating their idols and highlights the need for role models to identify with.
- gives visitors a chance to listen to stories about how clothes can be important tools in dealing with separation.
- provides bodies, memories, and desires.
Illustration: The Lesbian Shirt by Maja Gunn. Photograph: Adina Fohlin; the image has been cropped