Fashion Comes Alive: Southampton Arts Center Hosts Toast to 'Second Skin' Artists

Southampton Arts Center will host a special “Toast to the Artists of ‘Second Skin,’” curated by Estrellita B. Brodsky, with a live performance of “Fashion Interventions” by Gabriela Galván on Friday, December 20.

“Fashion Interventions,” first developed in the summer of 2007 in Soho, New York, will take place in the front of the gallery from noon to 5 p.m., where worn garments will be transformed in real time. The event will be followed by a festive reception from 5 to 7 p.m. with cocktails, cookies, hot chocolate and conversation with the artists and curators of "Second Skin."

Visitors are invited to bring a piece of clothing they would otherwise discard and allow Gabriela to transform it on the spot. The participatory action will explore human connections, highlight how sustainable choices can change our perception of consumerism, and examine the relationship between clothes and the body. “Fashion Interventions” encourages audiences to see everyday actions as tools for positive change, fostering ecological awareness across ages and cultures.

The “Second Skin” exhibition, on view at SAC through Sunday, December 28, presents approximately 30 works from the early 1950s to the present, with a strong emphasis on Latin America. It features photography, sculpture, textiles, wearable objects and archival materials, including prints from Martine Gutierrez’s acclaimed “Indigenous Woman” and a selection of Andy Warhol works on paper from the Jordan D. Schnitzer Foundation.

Some artists in the exhibition, including Felix Beaudry and Nazareth Pacheco, create their own garments to explore identity and protection against political or sexual violence, while others, such as Joiri Minaya and Stephanie Syjuco, appropriate commercial ethnic and tropical motifs to challenge racial and colonial narratives and critique fashion’s beauty standards and commodification of bodies. The exhibition examines how fashion functions as a site where identities are constructed, commodified, resisted and critically reclaimed.

“The artists presented at Southampton Arts Center remind us that fashion frames our sense of self and our perception of others as well as personal agency,” said Brodsky. “‘Toasts to the Artists’ will celebrate these ideas and a shared sense of community.”

Artists featured include Antonio (Antonio Lopez and Juan Ramos), Felix Beaudry, Andrés Bedoya, Miguel Fernández de Castro, Sylvie Fleury, Martine Gutierrez, Gaspar Libedinsky, Carole Frances Lung, Raúl de Nieves, Joiri Minaya, Nazareth Pacheco, Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, Stephanie Syjuco, Milagros de la Torre, WAR BOUTIQUE (Kevin Leahy) and Andy Warhol.

“Fashion Interventions” and the “Second Skin” exhibition take place at Southampton Arts Center, 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton. Gallery hours are Friday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information, visit southamptonartscenter.org.