Isaya Sikwatta

Origins

I believe left in an open environment, exposed to the elements and with a furless skin for a coat and the constant need to move away from the fire and the cave mouth led us humans to fibres of different persuasions and hides and skins from animals of any kind depending on where you do your digging, in the search of warmth, privacy, style, and comfort.

To the table humans brought the needle and the skill.

It's not that obvious whether humans learnt the skill of putting together pieces of tree bark or leopard hide by observing other weaving animals like weaver birds that were in abundance on the

plains or if humans like any other animal had this skill of putting together pieces of material to make items of clothing in built in their DNA

All I can say for sure is the skill and reason has not changed much since those years of the bone needle and the sinew or fibre threads. The steel needle came, and the singer stayed. The hemp thread stayed. The cotton came, the leather stayed. Wool was always there.

Inspiration

I have always been guided by the philosophy of using that which is most easily found and sustained in my creation in terms of skill and material

 In 2021 when I first had the idea to have a fashion show, I was working as a volunteer at an op shop, so my creative mind was fed fabrics, textiles, and clothes for breakfast lunch and tea, it's like it evolved out of a need to deal with all that textiles in my life.

There was need to cut up fabrics and make art out of them because that was the most easily available material I could use, sustainable because it was easily available and affordable, textiles also proved to be easy to carry around as a resource. 

Wearable art is what I settled on because I sought of am a pragmatic fantasiser it means I pursue fantasy primarily before functionality, but I will pursue the fantasy only as far is its outermost  purposeful edge or cliff, I wanted my art to have a purpose more than the fundamental art for art's sake and aesthetics storyline as driving forces or markers of it. I hoped my art would rise to the ovation and address what my mind perceived as a resource rather than a waste product to be thrown away.

 Fashion for me is an art form purely from a designer's point of view. I think this is where my work crosses lines from craft to art back and forth, so it was easy to not stop at functionalism but to make sure my work answered to the role of being pleasing to the eye and to the feel. The skill evolved from an early attempt at sewing machines, which fell by the wayside early into the project. My excuse was that the sewing machine was too noisy, but I also remember the bobbin was always a problem, stuck threads plus the added wall that the sewing machine put between me and the outfit.

Hand stitching became a much-loved skill that I got better at with time, it's amazing what one can do with a simple back stich ...I learnt this stich either from mum or my home science teacher who could have been my mum still. I never see the need for a running stich, there are pins, I see no need of the hemming stich, which I find unreliable.

The design of my outfits was guided by African traditional body painting lines which acted as frames for me to then fill in or patch up. I also wanted to get as much juice out of creating my own designs and being as original as possible, I allowed myself the freedom to trust the process which can be a hard lesson to learn.

My work is off course influenced by what I as a young person could have absorbed, seeing people with patchy clothes and that, but mainly my work is heavily influenced by my recognition that fashion has a potential to carry a lot of weight in addressing, guiding or even suggesting thought in certain directions , I know there's a unique way in which fashion and specifically so wearable art, can in no words say everything there is to say without a single word. I want my fashion to say all there is to say about the present time in which as an artist I exist, I want my fashion to address the topics that are prevalent at the time. And the time, skill, craftmanship and every stich, cut and fold represent the depth of my belief in what my fashion says, which I hope is everything to say about this specific time of existence in the human timeline.

Applications.

I think I have demonstrated to myself through this project that it's possible to sew my own clothes using my own hands and actually enjoy the end product. Thats not all, my biggest gain has been the mental and mind health benefits of what now has become my favourite hobby. I see a sort of solution to unwanted fabrics that faces our region and world at large in the return to hand sewing and home-made fashion, it's not only a great way to slow down it's also a perfect way to spend the time one finds themselves with after slowing down. A close second is the connections this project has opened up for me in the community. Thats some of the benefits that I could never have fore saw.

Future

I see this growing into an annual event that invites fashion designers showcasing their work to the right audiences.

There's an opportunity to present this project in a workshop format as a support avenue for youth dealing with mental health issues in the community or as a social tool.

Happy fashion. Nakewa Fashion.