Gallery 101 in partnership with Asinabka Festival presented Hot Culture.
Hot Culture is an art show focused on Indigenous made fashion, textile and crafts, bringing together designers and creators working with traditional and contemporary materials.
Hot Culture is a play on the term “Haute Couture”, meaning “high fashion”, and the creation of priceless, handmade, high-quality, custom-fitted clothing.
Excluding the classist implications of this term, these are concepts that strongly match the traditional ways that Indigenous peoples have always created cultural objects, crafts, clothing, jewelry, and regalia, that is, with the utmost skill and attention to detail.
These items are often embedded with the knowledge of the cultures from which they originate, in the harvesting of materials, in the methods of creation, and the symbols and stories they tell.
They are also reflections of the artists who made them, and the relationships that exist in families and communities, through the collaborative and dialogic ways that they are often designed and created for a specific individual.
They are also items that use contemporary materials, and that can challenge stereotypes by engaging with popular culture in playful and ironic ways.
They support the continuation of culture and the affirmation of Indigenous peoples as modern people with ancient and beautiful traditions. They are objects of utility, with meaning and spirit that are created, worn, and displayed with pride.
They are “hot” (read as gorgeous, pretty, beautiful) manifestations of Indigenous Culture.
The exhibition runs until September 1, 2018.
