Coffee Dress
1999
Coffee Dress, 1999 was the first dress sculpture that Susan made.
In a recent interview with Daan van Dartel from the Tropenmusuem, Amsterdam, she discusses the impetus and origins for what has now become an important and ongoing series of work: "Growing up my mother and grandmother made our clothes and I knew how to read dressmaking patterns from an early age, sewing was my first language. When I was sixteen I won a prize for the best-made dress in my school, I have been making dresses in one form or another all my life. The first sculptural dress I made, Coffee Dress was an extension of this, but it was an artwork, not to be worn, so a similar method but with a different aim and outcome; I was subverting clothing. At this time I also began working with maps."
Photos Colin Hampden-White & Susan Stockwell.
Exhibitions:
Susan Stockwell - Artst in Residence, Pinsent Masons, London 2021-22
Studio Caparelli 2005
Susan Stockwell Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2001
Jibby Beane, London 1999
Publications:
Altered States Crafts Magazine Carol Tulloch 2006
Post Colonial Discourse in Garment Form Jessica Hemmings, Fiberrts 2004
