RMIT, Australia

Olivia Goonatillake

Empty Garments & Absent Bodies

Olivia Goonatillake’s ‘Empty Garments & Absent Bodies’ is based on the research from her thesis ‘Pang: the representation of longing in empty clothes and absent bodies’. The thesis explores the idea of empty garments in art.

Olivia’s collection plays with notions of streetwear and ways of disturbing typical ‘girly’ archetypes. The materials she’s chosen—such as lace—in combination with a predominately pink and purple colour palette, can be perceived as ultra-feminine.

However, once disrupted with dripping silicone, rigid resin and streetwear, the ‘girly’ connotations are distorted and confused.