Elio Fantini

I researched the themes mutilation and abjection in art and performance, which led me to the 1980 essay Powers of Horror by Julia Kristeva. From here, I looked into medical suturing and gender affirming surgeries. I worked with my performer, who had undergone gender affirming surgery himself, ensuring that I was respecting his personal boundaries with visceral imagery and representations of gore. I looked at surgical suturing and how flesh is sewn up after operations. I imitated this on the wings in an attempt to evoke feelings of the grotesque in the audience, as surgical stitches are not usually worn with pride/in a visual space.

As with many of my quilting-based projects, the NAMES AIDS Memorial Quilt provided much inspiration for the patchwork layout and textual formatting and embellishment. Luckily, the Bishopsgate Institute has a panel from the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt in their archives, which I was lucky enough to visit and handle as part of my research for this costume. I also researched protest banners to conjure images of activism and defiance in the audience when they saw the costume spread out like a draped flag over someone's shoulders.

This costume consists of a pair of wings made up of two 175x50cm patchwork quilts connected to a custom made ultra-lightweight scaffolding framework I designed and constructed specifically to fit the performer of the piece. I also drafted and constructed a traditional hospital patient gown with a hand-printed repeat pattern of the silhouette of the costume as a whole.

With help from 3D Effects technicians, I created a structure for the wings using vaccuuformed ABS plastic, pop rivets, PVC pipes, and an old medical binder. This structure was worn under the hospital gown to hold up the wings and distribute the weight evenly across the back of the performer, ensuring their comfort.