Claire Fleury & Alesia Exum featured in “Forms & Alterations” at Boston Univeristy Gallery

From February 3 through March 25, the exhibition “Forms & Alterations” will be on view at Boston Art Galleries. The exhibit features the work of 13 artists and designers who explore the myriad ways in which clothing can be used to question, express and construct gender and identity. 

About the exhibition

Forms & Alterations considers how concepts of gender and identity are expressed, constructed, and questioned through the intersections of performance and strategies of dress, clothing, and textiles. The exhibition highlights contemporary practitioners working between the disciplines of fine art and experimental fashion who employ the material and visual language of clothing in order to subvert and perform the relationship between clothing, gender, and the body. Through the appropriation of DIY aesthetics, the innovative use of material and form, and a performative approach to personal style, the participating artists challenge fashion’s commodification of the body and mainstream conventions of dress.With particular attention to the artistic practices of women and LGBTQI artists, Forms & Alterations addresses the body as a creative and contested site in which gender norms are redefined and negotiated through clothing and self-styling. 

Qwear, the acclaimed queer fashion platform, is joined by a diverse group of QTPOC performers for an opening night fashion show and performance at the Boston University Art Galleries’ exhibition Forms & Alterations. ‘Legendary Children’ will explore what contemporary queer fashion means against the backdrop of the building’s history as a 1930’s Cadillac Showroom. This opening night event features the premiere of Qwear’s third apparel collection, whose pieces are drawn according to the individual specifications of each performer. This unique approach to design, where the models are also the designers, gives the audience a chance to be guided by queer expression withinan environment evocative of both the House Ballroom Scene and the hegemonic, consumerist legacy of a luxury vehicle dealership.

Claire Fleury’s and Alesia Exum‘s contribution: FUTURE MEMORY is an installation featuring a 20×10’ “wall of fame” two mannequins, and video.

About Claire Fleury and Alesia Exum

Alesia Exum (photographer) and Claire Fleury (costumier) are an artist duo. For the past four years they have been working together on portraying performers, artists, friends and local celebrities in garments made by Claire. Using available light and existing environments as their stage, the models; all performers and/or artists in their own right, are presenting the garments with their radiant persona, giving them a story to live in.