Orit Freilich - Artist Statement
For over 40 years I have lived and breathed fashion. I have witnessed dress and fashion change and become a vital and influential tool of the politics of design. As runways across the world offer us a variety of new identities which transcend conventions of gender, culture and class, I see the power of fashion not only to offer us a new vision of societal conventions but to remake those conventions entirely. As a religiously observant woman, Jewish tradition has always played a part in my artistic practice, whether it is in the exploration of the biblical matriarch or a deconstruction of traditional Jewish dress. At the same time, I am fascinated by technological innovation and the potential it has to reshape our world. X-rays, video and most recently cutting-edge data visualization and 3D printing technologies are tools through which I bring together past and future, tradition and innovation. At the crossroads between design, tradition and technology, my work combines the craftsmanship of the clothes maker with the curiosity of the scientist to explore how our identities, crafted out of cultural notions which may be centuries old, are reshaped and re-envisioned as the world around us changes.