ARTIST STATEMENT
Hello everyone! As prompted to create a piece around mental health and how to cope, I decided to make a contemporary garment that represents my relationship with journaling as a means to cope. I have been writing down my thoughts since I was thirteen and actually have those books to this day. As someone who has lost her mother at a young age, journaling was the first thing I did to explain the grief I was feeling. From short poems to long winded paragraphs, putting pen to paper about how I feel has always soothed that part of me that felt unheard. During COVID-19, my partner and I were in the middle of a move to Los Angeles, so my mind was all over place. I was experiencing a ton of panic attacks, I felt lost in my career, and didn’t know where my next paycheck was coming from. I tried to find a therapist that could service me in LA, but to my dismay, the process of switching healthcare from North to South California became extremely difficult, so I gave up that fight. Looking for somewhere to release all this anxiety, I found myself taking notes in a journal on how to ease stress from various YouTube videos and podcasts. This became my cheapest form of therapy.
This piece was created to showcase that emotions can be messy, but they are real. I have sewn actual pages from my journal onto the garment and transferred a few quotes onto cheesecloth, which was then sewn onto the piece. The pattern on the shoulders are made from rolled corn to create a scaly look and the once white collared shirt, is tea-dyed to give a little nod to all my tea-lovers out there, haha. All in all, this contemporary piece is a piece of my mind. Journaling is my safe haven from the outside world and while creating this piece, I felt fearful because it grants you access into my head, but I learned that that may not be such a bad thing after all.
Thank you.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Hello!
My name is Erynn Lynn, I am a fashion designer from the Bay Area and I am currently studying fashion design at Parsons. I was born and raised in Oakland, California and spent most of my childhood surrounded by art and creativity. After high school, I originally went to college for business to become an A&R in the music industry, but I soon realized crunching royalty numbers wasn’t my passion. So, in the middle of a pandemic, I decided to change my career path and become a designer instead. Even though my transition into this career wasn’t easy, I did gain a lot of experience in a little amount of time. After moving to LA, I sought out any opportunity to break into the industry, which led me to working with LA fashion week three seasons in a row! I also met some amazingly talented photographers and became a road dog/assistant photographer, traveling to different shoots in the United States. While all the adventure was great, I still found myself struggling to feel accomplished by any of it.
After losing my job in LA, due to a prolonging pandemic, I made the choice to move back home and work on my own fashion brand, Lynn Perri. Since being back, I have found my passion not only in fashion but in community and have volunteered to work at different organizations in the Bay, such as the People’s Program. I am also a youth educator, teaching entrepreneurship to young leaders.
© Erynn Lynn