Liar's Couture
Liar's Couture, is comprised of a toddler shirt sewn from digitally printed fabric with faces of the 45th President of the United States, and a hand sewn tie created with digitally printed fabric, that was printed with text of the lies of the president, beginning with his campaign in 2016 through December 2017. Created for the exhibition, Disillusionment at Taller Boricua in New York City. Disillusionment was conceptualized and developed by Robin Holder and Marina Gutierrez who then approached Taller Boricua to host the exhibition. More information about the show can be found here
Artist Statement/Liar's Couture
I created Liar’s Couture to celebrate the greatest president ever. Wait, no, that’s a lie. Liar’s Couture actually honors the most trustworthy soul since Honest Abe. Well, um, that’s also a lie. A paean, perhaps to least truthful human since Cain was asked by God about his brother, only to reply “Abel who?” Yep, that’s it. Liar’s Couture is dedicated to Dishonest Donald, the Dean of Deceit, an orange lie machine who spits them out at least 5 times a day, every day.
The call for the Disillusionment exhibition came in 2016, in the grim wake of Trump’s election. Soon after, I developed a bad knee infection, rendering me homebound for many months, and leaving me way too exposed, via TV and online media, to the vile haze of the Toxic Avenger (code name: POTUS).
Exposed daily to his fraudulent flood, I wondered what, or who, might be more of a Disillusionment than El Stupido? Close Trump associates like Vladimir Putin, Rodrigo Duterte, Recep Erdoğan? Candidates all, but none could hold a candle to the sheer Niagara of Trump’s duplicity.
I was struck by the idea of a scroll-like necktie (he likes ‘em long) covered with the president’s lies, as verified by The New York Times. I digitally printed fabric for the 18-foot tie on Spoonflower.com with text I had edited. Then I drew a pattern for the anaconda-long tie, and hand-cut and sewed the printed yardage. I knotted the tie around the collar of a size 4 toddler’s shirt I cut and sewed using a commercially available Trumpian fabric purchased online.
This project was challenging, therapeutic and fun. I am of a generation where girls learned to sew in required “home-ec” classes as well as from their mothers. However, it had been decades since I had revived the skill or followed a pattern, and I had never made a classic shirt or tie. I only hope Trump’s lies eventually strangle him like a too-tight tie, or a noose, and contribute to some well-deserved end.