The School of Fashion is proud to partner with Indigenous Rising in hosting SOVEREIGNTY: Reclaiming Cultural Memory, a panel discussion on Indigenous resurgence through fashion practices and systems of making. We humbly welcome renowned artists Christian Allaire, Korina Emmerich, Jeffrey Gibson, Tania Larsson & Dr. Jessica Metcalfe in a conversation with Sariah Park & Ben Barry on Indigenous art, design, and journalism. We will be discussing what it means to reclaim cultural memory, exploring concepts based in decolonization, land-based practices and rituals of adornment as ways to connect meaning and cultural heritage, connection to the Land and identity through craft and making.
This event is part of The Indigenous Rising Symposium & the Parsons School of Fashion Vision Speaker Series
Presented by Indigenous Rising, The School of Fashion at Parsons, and American Indian Community House.
Effective February 23, 2023, event guests and/or visitors to the New School are no longer required to provide proof of up-to-date vaccination or negative result from a PCR test and do not need to use the CLEAR app to present their vaccination status.Â
Wearing a mask is recommended but not required on campus.
New School students seeking accommodations should contact the Student Disability Services office at studentdisability@newschool.edu.
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Event guests seeking accommodations may contact the event organizer by clicking the "Contact the Organizer" link at the bottom of this page.
Christian Allaire is Ojibwe from Nipissing First Nation. He is currently the Senior Fashion and Style Writer at Vogue in New York City, where he covers Indigenous fashion, celebrity style, trends, awards season, and more. He published his first book, The Power of Style, with Annick Press in 2021. He earned his Bachelor of Journalism degree from Ryerson University in 2014.
Artist and designer Korina Emmerich founded the slow fashion brand EMME Studio in 2015. Her colorful work celebrates her patrilineal Indigenous heritage from The Puyallup tribe while aligning art and design with education. With a strong focus on social and climate justice, Emmerich's artwork strives to expose and dismantle systems of oppression in the fashion industry and challenge colonial ways of thinking. Emmerich has worked as a special advisor and educator with The Slow Factory Foundation, and a community organizer with the Indigenous Kinship Collective. She has recently co-founded the new atelier, gallery, showroom, and community space Relative Arts NYC. Located in the East Village. The space celebrates sustainable and subversive art and fashion.
Jeffrey Gibson’s work fuses his Choctaw-Cherokee heritage and experience of living in Europe, Asia and the USA with references that span club culture, queer theory, fashion, politics, literature and art history. The artist’s multi-faceted practice incorporates painting, performance, sculpture, textiles and video, characterized by vibrant colour and pattern.
Tania Larsson is a Gwich’in and Swedish Jewellery Designer focusing on innovating Northern Indigenous adornment utilizing land-based materials and multiple disciplines. Larsson’s grounded and deep understanding of the reciprocal relationship between land, culture, and community is reflected by her ethical and traditional practices of material sourcing, processing, and knowledge sharing. Distinguished internationally by way of various publications including Vogue, Brides Magazine, and Vice, Larsson has led a resurgence of interest in Northern Adornment, continuing to refine the contemporary aesthetic of Gwich’in design.
Dr. Jessica R. Metcalfe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) is the owner of Beyond Buckskin, which is a website and business dedicated to promoting Native American-made fashion. She has co-curated exhibitions and taught college courses in Native American studies, studio art, art history, and literature. Her current work focuses on American Indian art, clothing, and design from all time periods, with an emphasis on contemporary artists.
Sariah Park (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator, whose research focuses on Indigenous knowledge and Land-based practices. Her work asks important questions regarding the complex entanglements of labor, ethnicity, materials, and history through systems level interventions and collaborations. Sariah’s work has been featured in Hyperallergic, the Wall Street Journal, Women’s Wear Daily, Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar. She has years of experience working as a fashion designer and textile artist, producing her namesake label for clients like Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, and Creatures of Comfort. Sariah has exhibited internationally and her work is included in many public and private collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sariah is a member of the Chiricahua Apache Nation and has written the first ever curriculum on Indigenous Fashion Studies here at Parsons. Sariah’s pedagogy aims to decolonize art education and promote ecological justice by encouraging slow systems of making and sustainable practices.
As a fashion educator, researcher and activist, Ben Barry strives to intervene into the fashion system and redesign it to centre inclusion and decolonization – creating a future in which bodies that are currently stigmatized and excluded are instead valued and desired. As a teacher and supervisor, he works with students to confront, resist and transform the fashion system’s narrow ideas and ideals about the body as well as the hierarchical and exclusionary fashion design process.
Luke Alan Davis is a Chickasaw interdisciplinary artist and a proud Parsons Alumnus, having received a BFA in Photography with minors in Gender Studies and Printmaking. Prior to his studies, he danced professionally as a classical ballet dancer. He recently joined ADHT following his tenure as a Program Administrator in the School of Fashion. He is a member of the Parsons Staff Council, participated in the working group of VisionSOF, and has worked closely in organizing many events that seek to expand fashion education. Alongside his SoF colleague Sariah Park, he established Indigenous Rising to foster community amongst Indigenous students on campus.
Committed to amplifying diverse voices, The New School offers more than a thousand public programs and events each year, providing fresh perspectives and unique learning opportunities. These lectures, exhibitions, concerts, and performances feature prominent and emerging artists, activists, and thought leaders.
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