Confessions and the Sense of Self: Works by Noel Palomo-Lovinski

 

In the exhibition Confessions and the Sense of Self at Kent State University Museum, Noel Palomo-Lovinski has explored the themes of women's roles and self image. She has designed and created clothing  layered with meaning through shape, texture, fabric and embellishment that as a whole functions as sculpture. Anonymous confessions by women were obtained through public websites and used as design elements in portraying the "tension that exists between the enduring archetype of the caring female and the nature of such contradictory confessions".

Using dress as a visual metaphor for identity, the exhibitions include:
I Feel Great!
Bridezilla
All Tied Up in Knots
Hold It In
Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety
Twisted Sister
Levels of Confession
Mother Love
Camouflaged Confessions
Suck Punch
Family and Friends

I was particularly taken with I Feel Great! and Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety and Noel kindly gave me permission to show images of these works. 
 

 

I Feel Great! by Noel Palomo-Lovinski 

 

I Feel Great! (Detail Shot) 

Noel wrote that "Polite conversation often includes the rhetorical question 'How are you doing?' The expected response is 'Fine; great, how are you?' The under-layer of the dress is candid confessions in red; the top layer exhibits expected responses. The muzzle signifies a suppression of blunt or truthful thoughts."

 

Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety by Noel Palomo-Lovinski

Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety (Detail Shot)

About this work, Noel wrote "In our current society women are often expected to be a type of superwoman, ambitiously working in a career, be a loving and patient mother, expert housekeeper and true partner in her marital relationship. There are several websites that are devoted to confessions from women who are not able to cope with the demands that they feel from society, their families, their partners and employers. They seek advice, comfort or just use the websites as a sounding board for their anxieties."

I encourage you to check out the entire exhibition here. Noel Palomo-Lovinski's hauntingly beautiful work is a fusion of fashion, art and sculpture.

Confessions and the Sense of Self: Works by Noel Palomo-Lovinski
Kent State University Museum
Rockwell Hall
Kent Ohio
Phone: 330-672-3450
Email: museum@kent.edu