Rebekah Richardson, Student Work, Poetry Garment

Poetry Garment

Materials: Paper, masking tape, spray paint

Two Coffins by Against Me!

Two coffins for sleep
One for you, one for me
We’ll get there eventually

In the dark of our graves our bodies will decay
I wish you’d never change

How lucky I ever was to see
The way that you smiled at me
Your little moon face shining bright at me
One day soon there’ll be nothing left of you and me

Two coffins for sleep
Two coffins for sleep

All the things I have yet to lose will someday be gone too
Back into annihilation
All things will fade, maybe it’s better off that way
I wish you’d stay with me

Statement:

I imagined a dark looming figure and felt a sense of morbidity and death.  My inspiration for the arms of the garment are based on the “coffin”.  In coffins, your body is restricted.  The arms I constructed restrict yourself from doing anything with them. The shape and texture of the arms add to the looming feel of the song, by extending further passed the hands and twisting at the ends as if they are wilting away like flowers. I gave the bodice a crumpled texture to resemble the idea of decay.  The skirt is constructed of crumpled strips of paper attached to a tape “belt”.  I did this to mimic the same idea that the arms are wilting away.  I wrapped the strips around my legs to represent death consuming me.

I left my face clean of any paper because it is the most living part of me.  My body begins to decay from top to bottom, taken from the song: “All things will fade, maybe it’s better off that way”.