For a series called "Every Curve," New York-based artist Zoë Buckman takes lyrics from her favorite hip-hop artists and embroiders them by hand onto vintage lingerie as a way to address the history of misogyny in the art form and culture at-large. As a self-identified feminist and fan of Tupac and Biggie, Buckman sought to take their lyrics and "recreate them as something beautiful and thought-provoking."
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In an interview with i-D, Buckman shares that she grew up in a feminist household and that when she got older, she began to notice a "disconnect" between her feminist side and the side of her that was a fan of hip-hop. She realized that both Tupac and Biggie said some pretty bad things about women. With this project she wanted to "take their words and recreate them as something beautiful and thought-provoking" instead of vowing never to listen to it again.
Buckman says that the garments themselves serve as "representations of women throughout history." She explains in the interview that the kind of vintage underwear she used changed as the project developed. "When I first started this project, I thought I would take the lyrics and embroider them onto these very flowy, silky, liberating '20s and '30s-era lace slips bralettes. But as I started working on those, I realized that I also wanted to create pieces from '50s, '60s, '70s lingerie, which were almost the opposite."
By customizing the lingerie with lyrics like "I swear I'll never call you bitch again," and "So gimme a ho, a bankroll, and a bag of weed," Hannah Ghorashi of i-D writes that the artist "challenges our acceptance of contradictions by synthesizing them." Pieces from the "Every Curve" series are currently on view at Alan Koppel Gallery in Chicago through Oct. 31 as a part of the "What Is, Isn't" group exhibition.
[via i-D]
