Fashion in nature
Nina Lavarini Dawson’s exhibition at Umbrella Studio, Symbiotica, stylishly applies the art of dyeing fabric from plants into spectacular fashion pieces
NinaLavarini Dawson is an artist with an eye firmly planted in the natural environment.
She is inspired by the colours, shapes, textures and beauty of North Queensland landscapes. The natural environment is her passion, and in particular native plants.
Nina is renowned for creating natural fibre wearable art dyed with native plant dyes.
The result is stunning.
The North Queensland-based artist has made clothing ranges using different fabric design techniques for the past 20 years, and sells her work under the Ecofashion label Birdtribe Wearable Art.
Nina, who has a Bachelor in Science, has spent the past two years working on her latest exhibition at Umbrella Studio called Symbiotica. The exhibition runs until April 13.
Nina’s exhibition has been described as an exhibition to “reflect and muse on our resonance with the natural environment”.
Nina has mastered the art of creating garments, and then taking them back into nature to photograph in portrait style.
Art educator Anneke Silver says Nina’s exquisite naturally dyed fabrics and garments are only equalled by her outstanding photography.
“This is not fashion photography in the usual sense, where we instantly associate certain styles on the catwalk with places or occasions they could be worn at – a low-cut black item, with night-life; or a loose flowing piece with the beach, or a cruise,” Anneke explains. “In contrast, Nina’s photographs don’t show where the garments are going; they show where they have come from.
“Her photographs are statements of our links with nature - a split second pause, which explains how all is connected, the colours of the garments matching the plants from which they came. And these are not just clothes either. They are works of art, each making an aesthetic statement about our natural environment, but also about sustainability: natural fabrics and dyes are free of toxins.”
Nina admits the process she goes through
from concept to the realisation to the final photographs takes time.
“I am very observant of the natural world, and I watch the seasonal calendar of flowering and fruiting of native plants in our area,” she explains. “Often, I will notice a certain colour of a flowering tree or the colours in the landscape.
“I then try to create that colour in a garment with the aim to create a portrait blending the model and garment into the landscape.”
Nina says her work is about seeing ourselves as part of the environment and to take responsibility to care for it.
“What we do to the natural environment, we do to ourselves,” she says. “We are nature and we are all connected. The garments are a way to symbolically show this connection.”
A passionate environmentalist, Nina also works closely with several North Queensland Indigenous communities, celebrating their mutual respect for nature with a range of art and environmental projects.
“I spend my time researching and collecting local plants to experiment with to create new natural dye colours for my clothing range,” Nina says. “I am constantly surprised and overjoyed at the colours teased from the leaves into the fabrics in my cauldron.
Nina has been involved in various art projects in Townsville including art workshops at the North Australia Festival of Arts and exhibitions for Pop Up North Queensland (PUNQ).
Nina says she has always had an interest in
making her own clothes.
This started as a child when she created outfits for her dolls, and continued as she made all her own clothes until well into her adult life.
The artist’s inspiration and instruction for working with textiles and handmade clothing came from her grandmother and her Nonna.
Nina says her grandmother was a seamstress who designed and made her own clothes and ‘always looked great’.
“This inspired me to make clothes for myself as I always struggled to find clothing that Iliked in shops. It became a way of expressing my individual self,” she says.
“My Nonna taught me all her other textile skills of embroidery, tapestry, knitting and crochet. Another passion was also passed down through the generations – my Nonna’s and my mother’s love of plants, amazing gardens and growing their own food.”
Nina, who has worked as a horticulturalist and ethnobotanist, started to apply her love for plants by embellishing her fabrics with natural plant dyes, but these proved to be impermanent – what dyers call fugitive.
Over the years, Nina experimented with many ways to embellish and decorate clothing with synthetic dyes, screen prints and lino prints.
She has engaged in extensive personal research into dyes, mordants and colour permanence, and gathered an impressive string of tertiary qualifications - in photography, environmental management and botanical sciences, plus years of art making and attending eco-dying workshops (including a course in traditional dyeing in Mexico).
Nina has accordingly developed unique
techniques to forego synthetic dyes (which are an environmental hazard) in favour of her first love of using plant-based dyes.
Nina says she feels she has found her medium now, using her beloved plants to create the designs on the fabrics, echoing the local environment.
“My passion is the natural environment and I aim to reflect this passion through my work,” she says. “I use all natural fibres including silk, wool, cotton and linen and always use recycled fabric when possible. I also buy second-hand clothing which I alter to create new pieces so I am having less of an impact on the environment and can give new life to an old unused garment.”
Nina, who sells her work through her label Birdtribe Wearable Art through her Etzy online shop called Birdtribe, says the impact of ‘fast fashion’ has major effects for the environment and people across the globe.
“Synthetic fibres and dyes create pollution and do not biodegrade,” she explains. It is important to me to be conscious of the impact my creations have on the environment and the legacy I leave behind.”
This is not fashion photography in the usual sense
Symbiotica by Nina Lavarini Dawson is exhibited at Umbrella Studio until April 13.