Collett, E
(Costume Workroom, Performing Arts Building, Southbank Campus, University of Melbourne, 2019)
Costume as a cultural marker: How does archived performance costume indicate notions of national identity?
When a performance costume ceases to be used as a tool for performance and enters an archive, it acquires a 'fourth persona'. On top of the private, public and professional identities a single costume represents of the individual/s who wore it, an archived costume also represents a collective identity - that of the society from within which the costume was created.
The costume tells multiple stories of people, time and place, and as such, is a valuable research tool to better understand the nuanced identity of a collective of humans.
Can a collection of archived costumes, then, inform notions of a greater collective,or 'national', identity?
How can archived costume be exhibited in a way which allows communication of these multiple histories, and enable an audience to gain a sense of something greater than just the individual who wore it?
This experimental exhibition aims to test the ways in which these questions could be answered by placing archived costume at the centre of enquiry as a cultural marker.