Exchange/Alteration was a total success during its 3 days in Boulder. The sewing intervention set up on CU, the Boulder Farmer’s Market and the Civic Park during Earth Day weekend. E/A invited participants to surrender their clothing to be altered on the spot from the bits-and-pieces of other participants’ clothes and from fabrics collected beforehand. The catch was that the E/A seamstress/artist could alter a participant’s clothing however they wanted – with some interesting results. At first, people came up to us making alterations requests, but once we explain how E/A was an art intevention and not a sewing service, people immediately got it and gave us their clothes eagerly. It was lo-tech arts activism at its finest- reappropriating traditional crafts as tools for social interaction, upcycling and breathing new life to old clothes. I can’t wait to bring E/A co-creators, Mélanie Badalato and Camilo Ontiveros, back to Boulder soon for another fun sew-off. Special thanks to them and Lola Griffin, Mark Gosbee, Rachel Murray, Meghan and H.dot for braving the hot sun all day with good humor.
Heck yeah! It was one of the funnest things ever! And what an excellent way to work on a tan to boot. Thank YOU for the opportunity to participate in such a fabulous project dear sir.
That’s a really great idea. I would love to try something like that at a music festival.It could really get people thinking about what they are able to do themselves with what they already have in their wardrobes