Amelia Sutherland - Artist Statement
Reduced Down to a Number, or 3 is an installation that means to replicate the experience of jean shopping. Jeans are an integral part of most peoples' wardrobes, but shopping for them is a nightmare. My experiences with dressing rooms are usually negative and focus mainly around ill fitting clothing. My issue with not finding jeans that fit is instead of blaming the system and its arbitrary sizing standard, I blame my body. In my video I am recreating this experience that I have had so many times before. While it sucks not being able to find jeans that fit, there are also reasons for it. What I want the viewers of my work to understand is that this issue is more complicated than simply loving your body, or only buying tailor fitted garments. I hope that they find some sort of comfort knowing that most clothes aren’t made for any of us, knowing that they are not alone in the struggle of finding those perfect pair of jeans that fit your thighs, butt, and waist just right, in this system doesn’t even work for those it was designed around.
Amelia Sutherland - Artist Bio
Amelia Sutherland is an Artist and Printmaker based in Portland, Oregon. She is a 2022 Print Media MFA candidate at Pacific Northwest College of Art. She received her Undergraduate degree in 2019 for Art at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. She has had formal training in printmaking and her main mediums being woodcuts and etchings. Amelia is enticed by other media and is expanding her artistic practice to include mold making and garment construction. Currently her work is exploring social and political ways the fashion industry impacts women and their bodies. Through her art she is trying to reclaim her childish love and joy for clothing and femininity. She is diving into the intricacies of the fashion industry and its influences through her identity, its representation, production, consumption and regulation.