The Barefoot Designer: A Workshop to Unlearn

The Barefoot Designer: A Workshop to Unlearn, a variation on the exhibition originally presented at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 2014, features the work and design philosophy of Carla Fernández, through her exploration of the traditions and techniques from the different indigenous cultures of Mexico. The exhibition contains works inspired in Guerrero, Chiapas, Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Yucatan, and Campeche. Audiences is introduced to the designer’s techniques as well as to the indigenous communities’ ancestral forms of knowledge through the process-based and workshop components of the exhibition.

Carla Fernández has developed a successful dynamic wherein the fashion industry and the handmade crafts of Mexico become compatible. The driving force of her strategy consists of reinterpreting the complex system of Mexican indigenous clothing through direct cooperation with artisans. She has conducted a research over ten years in which she catalogued hundreds of garment designs, including the Mayan culture, Aztec designs and other pre-Hispanic traditions, some at risk of being lost.

Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener stage a performance in the context of the exhibition. After working together in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Mitchell and Riener began collaborating in 2009 creating improvisational dances, performances, and immersive experiences.

The work of artists as Graciela Iturbide, Ramiro Chaves and Pedro Reyes is part of the exhibition.

Image © Fundacion Jumex.