Final work for first semester drawing studio at RISD inspired by Quino’s iconic Argentinian comic character, Mafalda, and Christo and Jeanne Claude’s “Surrounded Islands” land art work from 1985 in Miami. These two art historical references allow for a subject matter to be highlighted— Mafalda being used as a vessel to translate revolutionary ideas/philosophies and Surrounded Islands to demarcate Miami’s intervention of humanity and water. This garment serves to engage the two and subsequently enable my multifaceted heritage and upbringing. I began by making an anatomical study of Mafalda and translating her figure into identifiable shapes and forms— I used elements like stuffing to create Mafalda’s iconic silhouette through garment protrusions while incorporating design forms that mimic Miami’s archipelagos. During the process I was perpetually thinking about hybridity, the body, and silhouettes.

Thrifted pillowcases, naturally dyed muslin using beets, plastic sheet, stuffing, tulle.