Chloris,
Meaning vegetation or flora in Ancient Greek,
An investigation into the ecology and vegetation within Botticelli's Birth of Venus - exploring the plants and context within the painting as backdrop, but as subject. The embroidered border reproduces wave formations drawn from the seascape of the original painting—translated into line-based abstractions that explore movement, threshold, and instability. with delicate zari threads, the illustrations slowly etch out the vegetal motifs - trees, leaves, and undergrowth - all taken from the peripheral zones of Botticelli's canvas.
The inversion of focus, of making the background of the painting the front and center of the sari invites a rethinking into what we know, drawing focus to hidden details, and questioning existing perspectives. Further, chloris moves to add emphasis on the importance of environmental conditions and the direct effects they have on determining the fate of subjects within painting, and history.
Through textile, it interrogates the visual hierarchies of western canonical imagery and recodes them into an alternate system of value—one in which context and background become primary agents of narrative.
Worn with the Ostrac Top.
Colourway: Eggshell with highlights in shades of metallic bronze, muted silvers and golds.
Fabric Composition: Viscose Velvet
dry clean only
