www.changruih.com

che01@risd.edu

Abstract

For many years, I have been repeatedly trying to understand what the term “trauma” means to me. While invisible, my trauma is ever-present, and I have not been able to understand how it has trapped me and my inner feelings. At the same time, more recently I don’t feel helpless or abandoned. I have been trying to tap the potential of connecting with the world outside, thereby, piecing together the broken bits and pieces and reconciling with my family, past sorrows and myself.

In my thesis collection, I pay homage to a garden I often visited as a child. The garden was refuge, a place where I felt safe and free. The garments depict and interpret elements of that garden in a wide range of applications, from felted fringe to printed silk. They play with varied forms of camouflage, protection, and reclamation. These garments recall memories and hardships that I experienced growing up as well as places where I found extreme warmth and comfort that helped me get through it all. They are meant to be wearable and in being worn, offer solace to all who may be stuck in a dark world and hoping to find peace and freedom someday.