National

The sun shimmering through the tops of trees, the spaces on the edge of light and shadow, the ever changing shadows themselves….

Shadows of your Garden is an exhibition combining photography and fashion design. The relationship between fashion and photography is generally simple: fashion is recorded onto an image. However, in the work of Sharka Bosakova and Renata Buziak, photography is incorporated into the fashion, allowing it to become an integral part of the final design. The work comes to life through the combination of Renata’s photographic art transferred to screen printing and Sharka’s unique fashion designs. The transferring and intermingling of skills from one artistic realm to another is both inspiring and open to innovation.

The work has grown out of the principal theme of the cycle of life - death and renewal. The artistic process began with both artists' keen fascination with nature and its creative and transformative elements as well as their interest in art and fashion. Selection of Renata Buziak's photographic art work was followed by transferring it to the monochrome scale by hand-screen printing the image onto selected off-cut materials. Sharka's imagination provides the inspiration for arranging the pieces, like an abstract puzzle into a beautiful wearable art. In a fusion of diverse art forms and a traditional hand screen printing technique we seek to expose the hidden microcosm materialised in the form of printed Biochrome images. The work reflects the beauty and fragility of the underlying fabric of our ecosystem and the ever pressing need for ecological sustainability.

Through her photographic art Renata discovered how to utilise organic processes, which led her to establishing an unusual photographic process called the Biochrome. This process focuses on organic decomposition and its effects on photographic materials. The metabolic activities of myriad microbes are the main protagonists of this process. Reflecting the natural processes of our environment stimulates an appreciation of the natural world; its beauty, and its infinite creative potential.

Sharka has been working with recycled materials for several years now. “Silk has an incredible textural, sculpture like behaviour and offers many variations in the final printed image. I believe recycling is not only good for the environment but is a creative force as well. You can take a form and transform it into an entirely new context and meaning – just like working and living in new ways will help us overcome the manifold environmental issues the world is currently facing.”

“To us, creating fashion in this manner means creating sustainable cultural and artistic environments, taking inspiration from nature and reusing the materials around us to create something new.”

Art Direction, Concept, Design, Manufacture by Sharka Bosakova.
www.sharka.superuser.com.au

Photographic Art / Pattern by Renata Buziak.
www.renata-buziak.com

Printmaking by Jacek Rybiński, Marek Wojciechowski.

Photography by Nadia Masot Ziegelbauer, Hannah Piper.

Models: Amber Greasley, Lauren Sheepers, Sarah Covington, Chelsea Graver.

Makeup by Melissa Rainbow.

Special thanks to: Piotr Branczyk, Robert Lort, Rob Irving from Mt. Tamborine.