Science as Identity

Introduction

For many, Science is just a bunch of facts.  For me, Science is part of our larger Identity, representing Humanity's collective journey across the ages to explore and deeply understand the Universe and ourselves.  Back in the day, Science, Philosophy and Art fed the same pursuit of knowledge and exploration however, now, sometimes it feels that the soul of science is lost.   This is why I think it is essential for the warmth, excitement, messiness, and creativity of the Arts to come back into Science.  With this in mind, I have explored creating artwork from science.  Similarly,  I believe we can become more mindful, more spiritual and more expressive when we think of our identity as being part of the collective human journey into the exploration of knowledge.  For example, in my spiritual healing series, I have explored using Science to understand our ecosystems which then allows us to experience a mindful walk deeply because we can feel more connected to the known world around us. 

With these motivating ideas, Nellie Theroux and I have started a collaboration to bring together Fashion, Identity and Science.   Our first goal is to create  fashion that symbolically encodes the research of scientists.  This will allow fashion designers to use new sources of inspiration and scientists to communicate their research to a wider audience.  Our second goal is to create opportunities for fashion interns to meet scientists, learning both fashion and science.  

The two examples of our fashion-identity-science collaboration, presented below,  were created for my poster presentation on Community Engagement of Science for the NASA Human Research Program Conference in 2024.  

Below is a video that I made to motivate students to join and collaborate on the project. In it, I give an overview of my research on space exploration and spatial disorientation while also presenting motivating ideas for fashion design.  The goal is to collaborate with the fashion community to create fashion related to my research.  This is part of a larger creative project, where this fashion, which will be related to my research, will be worn by dancers.  The dancers will explore movement as they also wear sensory augmentation devices that I am making with another group.  We will examine how the sensory augmentation devices affect movement exploration.  As the video will explain, sensory augmentation is a core part of my research and it fascinating to take it from the controlled lab setting to the more complex world of human interaction.   

Street Wearable Space Suit (designed by Sarhone Jones)

This outfit is an example of our larger vision of creating a program to connect fashion students with scientists.  Sarhone was one of Nellie's students and was looking to add to her portfolio.  I began by giving Sarhone a presentation of my research and fashion inspired by space exploration (video above).  Then, Sarhone made the outfit above with the following description:

"Sarhone’s garment is a street wearable space suit, and she wanted a concept that turned astronaut uniforms into fun and stylish fashion trends. Space suits have changed and evolved over the years and she wanted to capture that. This suit is made of a cotton and polyester blend fabric and it bears the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Lab patch. The sensory augmentation device can be sewn behind the patch. There is a small opening on the side of the patch where the device could fit perfectly."  Her work was presented, as part of a poster, at the NASA HRP IWS Conference in 2024."

Double Breasted Vest of Space Exploration

Vivekanand’s research involves studying how spatial disorientation is different in Earth, Martian, Lunar and 0g analogs.  Each of the analogs were represented by 4 buttons made from rocks that Vivekanand foraged through his travels (from Iceland and Olympic National Park in the US).  We made a double breasted waistcoat from (100% wool) because of its naval history: the exploration of the unknown through ships.  An additional rough draft udder was placed over the double breasted waistcoat and represented how Humanity nurses its child, Technology, and how Technology will lead to the Augmented Human capable of exploring space.  Another aspect of Vivekanand’s research is on human augmentation.   2 rows of 4 nipples on the udder were created to represent the intake nozzles in early spacesuits.  In the mythology of the Milky Way, Hera sprayed milk from her nipples which made the Milky Way Galaxy.  Instead of milk, these udders sprayed wires that were fed to Technology.   Upon the shoulders Vivekanand wore copper wires that turned into a tail made from stripped Yucca leaves from Vivekanand’s Backyard of Biodiversity.  The tail represented the dream that Technology shouldn’t replace Humanity but rather augment Humanity.  Space exploration in collaboration with Technology will bring us back to the primal days of uncertainty, risk, danger, adventure and exploration.  

Designing the Symbolism

I began by collecting a number of ideas that I wanted to convey through symbolism.  The first was to convey my research because I was showcasing this vest at the NASA conference. You can see my poster on community engagement above and you can watch a presentation on my research here, where I was wearing the vest.  I represented the four analogs from my research (Earth, Martian, Lunar and 0g) as different rocks worn as buttons.   

In my research (see image below) I attach 4 vibrotactors on each arm which provides vibrotactile feedback as a way to augment performance.  To symbolically represent this I knew I needed 2 columns of 4 things....but how should I arrange them? 

Because my research is related to space exploration, I looked at different space suit designs.  I liked the 2 columns of 3 nipples down the stomach.   This is what motivated me to think about having 2 rows of 4 nipples (to match the number of vibrotactors .  This also matched some double breasted waistcoat designs which have a navel influence. 

What makes the arrangement of 2 rows of 4 nipples so special is that it matches the nipple pattern of one of my closest friends...a squirrel! I made friends with her after COVID shut everything down.   She used to attack my bird feeder but eventually we became friends and now she comes up to me and I give her peanuts. I saw her turn into a mother which made her nipples very prominent.  Self expression using symbols related to one's life journey may also be important for space exploration where long duration isolation may lead to depression.  Personalizing their stories may be a way to combat this.  

Finally, the motif of nipples also has relevance to space exploration.  The milky way galaxy is named after a mythologial story of a child suckling from nipples to drink milk.  Some of that breast milk squirts all across space and creates the milky way galaxy.  This is why I also used the themes of milk.   The painting below is by Peter Paul Rubens called "The Birth of the Milky Way"

Design Process

I learned all about fashion design from Nellie.  I began by making a sketch. 

Nellie then taught me how to use my measurements and information from a textbook to make a sloper and then a pattern.  We made a few rough draft prototypes using muslin fabric and then a 100% wool fabric for the final waistcoat.  I learned how to put in darts and use a ham to iron the seams.  

Fashion, Dance and Spatial Disorientation

This was in collaboration with Brooke Stanton, the director of costume at Brandeis University.  You can read about it in the article below