FEMAIL: AMPM (2.0) is on view at Bellevue Arts Museum June 1 – September 30, 2018

Bellevue, WA—Bellevue Arts Museum will present the first solo museum exhibition from Seattle- and Los Angeles-based fashion duo FEMAIL, opening June 1, 2018. Contemplating on how our identities change over time through the lens of fashion and design, AMPM (2.0) will explore the necessity of death for the purpose of rebirth into future forms of self, as well as the shapes we shift through in the process.

The installation will feature a collection of the artists' personal garments, textiles, childhood mementos, and keepsakes reinterpreted into new works of clothing, furniture, tapestry, and sculpture. Works will be arranged in a gradient representing transitions through periods of time, representing how our identities are constantly deconstructed and recreated throughout our lives. These meditations on self, death, and rebirth are especially fitting for AMPM (2.0) as the installation itself will expand on and reimagine FEMAIL's AMPM installation from Out of Sight 2017, which included five of the duo's garments and sculptural works. 

ABOUT FEMAIL

FEMAIL is a Seattle- and Los Angeles-based fashion collaboration conducted through USPS exchanges.  Collaborators Janelle Abbott and Camilla Carper first met while studying at Parsons School of Design in New York and began FEMAIL in 2012 as a way of continuing their friendship after graduation. Despite living in different cities, the two are able to work together by mailing garments back and forth between Seattle and Los Angeles. Every garment they create is formed through a process of “reactive collaboration” in which each artist can add to or subtract from the work with impunity before mailing it back. Garments are often made with found objects, gifts from friends and family, and items from Abbott and Carper’s wardrobes. The process results in fashions densely packed with layers of emotional value and personal history. In addition to being featured at Out of Sight 2017, FEMAIL’s work was featured in a runway show at the Seattle Art Museum, where they presented pieces inspired by the Museum’s Yves St. Laurent exhibition.

FEMAIL: AMPM (2.0) is organized by Bellevue Arts Museum and curated by Benedict Heywood.

ABOUT BELLEVUE ARTS MUSEUM

Bellevue Arts Museum provides a public forum for the community to contemplate, appreciate, and discuss visual culture. We work with audiences, artists, makers, and designers to understand our shared experience of the world. bellevuearts.org.

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