Bare Skills: Clothing

This month Bare Skills asks: what will you wear at the end of the world? The second workshop in the series will offer participants an interactive space to think about clothes for protection, adaptation and expression in the uncertain conditions of the future.

Bare Skills: Clothing will begin with Dharug knowledge holders, Linda Sainsbury and Kylie and Kursty Coleman, discussing the history of traditional wearable adaptations for saltwater and inland environments and how colonisation continues to impact materials. They will share knowledge about the plants from the Parramatta bioregion that can be used for weaving and show participants how to start their own projects.

Cook Islands artist Morgan Hogg will then lead a workshop on traditional techniques used to make clothing out of raffia, where participants will make their own skirt, neck piece or arm bands. Costume and fashion designer Matt Stegh will then lead participants through a discussion and exercise that explores how garment design and construction holds stories of identity and community. Participants will learn how utilising and honouring materials in sustainable and environmentally-friendly ways can be important, as we adapt to displacement and resettlement due to climate change.

Bare Skills is a new series of art and survival workshops for young people aged 14 to 25, developed by Parramatta Artists Studios and hosted every second month at PAS Granville.

It is a safe and inclusive space and people with diverse identities and abilities are welcome. The ground floor of Parramatta Artists Studios in Granville will include a kitchen, communal reflection table, two workshop spaces and a themed quiet area with a resource library.