Cultural appropriation interpreted in fashion

A Toronto-based fashion arts project that seeks to challenge issues of cultural appropriation in clothing design is underway.

Setsune Indigenous Fashion Incubator, the name of the team of artists who came up with the idea, launched the Collective Creation Project officially this month, and are working with specially selected individuals—both professional textile artists, and non—to bring their idea to fruition.

“Coming from fashion, the highlight was always on me being an Indigenous designer, and the expectation was to do things that were considered Native,” said Sage Paul, textile artist, and artistic director for Setsune.

“But that was from a pan-Indian stereotype. So for me, cultural appropriation is about not wanting to fall into that stereotype,” she said of her inspiration for the message behind the project.

Paul works alongside Erika Iserhoff as part of Setsune, and they recently brought textile artist Louise Solomon onboard. Together the three will be contributing their own art to the Cultural Appropriation Project, as well as facilitating the experience for the other selected artists.

“Each artist is going to have their own individual piece. And I think it’s going to have a good flow because a few artists are looking at cultural appropriation across all of the Americas, and how each community experiences it,” said Paul.

Paul, and her Setsune team started by holding workshops last summer for women with limited opportunities in crafting and fashion. The idea was to teach them skills like tanning deer hide, and silk-screening to give them a boost in the areas of fashion they were interested in. After the workshops ended, a call for submission went out to artists who attended, and a selection committee was formed to choose the right artists objectively based on the artists visions of how to represent cultural appropriation in design.

“We’re not approaching it from a fashion, retail, commodification, mass sale of work perspective. When I think of appropriation, I think that’s where it started, was taking these beautiful works then creating it on a mass scale… Like it not even being made here, and being made in China,” she said.

With help from funders such as the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Ontario Indigenous Youth Partnership Project, Paul, her Setsune team members, and the artists for Collective Creation Project will be able to take their show on the road, starting in the relatively affluent neighbourhood of Yorkville, Toronto for the first four weeks of their exhibition next April.

The first showing in Yorkville will really help in their mission to send the message to the right audience, according to Paul, because there is little to no Indigenous representation there. And the goal is to carry on after that.

“We’re talking about exhibiting it at other galleries in TorontoÖ Places like the Harbour Front, Power Plant, AGO, Mercer Union... and other galleries across Canada. And we’ve spoken to a couple galleries in South America… I can’t say how excited I am to see it come to life. I think it’ll have a really big impact on our Indigenous community, but also beyond that,” she said.

Jodi-Lyn Maracle, one of the artists selected for the project, is also excited to tackle the issue of cultural appropriation through textile art. Having done a Master’s Degree in Federal U.S. and Canadian Indian Law at the University of Buffalo, she knows all too well about the persecution Indigenous Canadians and Americans faced during colonization—something she says paved the way for their exploitation, and the appropriation of their culture.

“I’ve always been fascinated that they even called it Indian, because ‘Indian’ is this whole constructed appropriated thing to begin with. It’s not Mohawk law, it’s not Navajo Law... The way that federal Indian Law works in the U.S. and Canada is one of the first massive appropriations of identity,” said Maracle.

Maracle just started her formal advancement into fashion, but has been creating fashion art since she was a child. Using her knowledge of both textile art, and real colonial history, she said she has a “grand idea for a gown” that will demonstrate three components of law that were historically used to basically void the existence of First Nations people in North America.  Using materials like a sheer sheet, and weaving something like porcupine quills into it, she hopes to create a true visual of that.

“There’s obvious ways culture is appropriated, but I also think there’s a lot of ways that not just Indigenous culture, but also Indigenous presence is appropriated. And often erased to justify a lot of ongoing horrific things in the world,” said Maracle.

“That’s why I wanted to focus on these legal appropriations of our realities… It goes so far beyond just calling a pair of underwear Navajo,” she said.