The Royal Academy of Arts, London
2 December 2010 through 30 January 2011
6 Burlington Gardens, London, W1
+44 844 209 0051
www.royalacademy.org.uk

GSK Contemporary – Aware: Art Fashion Identity focuses on how artists and a number of designers examine clothing as a mechanism to communicate and reveal
elements of our identity. The exhibition contains work by 30 international
contemporary practitioners. New work by Yinka Shonibare MBE and Hussein Chalayan, commissioned especially for Aware by London College of Fashion and the Royal Academy of Arts, is on display. Hussein Chalayan presents a new dress inspired by the 300 year old Japanese tradition of Bunraku puppet theatre while Yinka Shonibare MBE worked with bespoke tailor Chris Stevens on creating 18
designs, based on 19th-century children’s dress, which have been assembled to form a wall mural.

Occupying the main galleries of the Royal Academy’s 6 Burlington Gardens building, Aware is divided into four sections. Aware reflects upon the relationship between our physical covering and constructed personal environments, our individual and social identities and the contexts in which we live. As a mechanism of expression, the
exploration of the role of clothing has been at the heart of the artistic practice of a number of contemporary artists, and has particular resonance for those attuned to the social situations of their times. Whilst frequently fulfilling a practical and occasionally protective function, clothing can be effective in celebrating or suppressing identity and in indicating allegiances. It has the ability to express our way of life and even our unconscious, communicating our positions, aspirations and desires.