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Untitled Final Fridays (Interactive Installation), Adult Program, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO. 2017.

The Wishing Kimono is a communal situ fashion installation designed to engage visitors in a manner that utilizes fashion as a form of conveyance and intercommunication. Introduced at the Denver Art Museum’s Untitled Final Fridays after hour’s event, the installation draws upon memories and resonances from past travel to Kyoto, Japan as a teen artist. Recreating the visual impact and practice of Japanese Shinto shrines and ema plaques, visitors express their written wishes on fabric tags simulating wooden wishing plaques. Visitors are then able to add their written wishes to the “Wishing Kimono’, a red monochrome contemporary kimono displayed on a red faceless form. The process offers visitors a moment of reflection, connection and contribution. Each wish joins the wishes of others and adds to the overall evolution of the garment as its design develops throughout the duration of the installation. The personal release and tangibility of written word creates a powerful experience in a shared, public space and delivers emotion and joy to participants who feel a sense of commonality through other people’s wishes. 


Wishing Kimono textiles and inspiration featuring the work of artist Yoshitaka Amano: