Right now, there is a touring exhibit ready to be set up that demonstrates through portraiture and models, the power of our community’s costumes and culture. Geoffrey Nelson is the Mohammed behind it all …
We’ve got a choice bit of Burner history to share with you today. Wayyyyyyy back in 2007, the Nevada Museum of Art debuted an exhibit that focused specifically on playa fashion. A Tribe of Artists: Costume & Culture at Burning Man invites the default world to interact with the radical visual beauty at play in our home away from home.
Visitors to the exhibit were astounded by a gallery filled with over twenty life size portraits depicting costumed Burners in all their glory. Each of these portraits were taken on-playa by professional photographer Geoffrey Nelson aka Mohammed of Mohammed’s Mini Martini and Erotica Camp fame.
The exhibit was usually chock-full of Burners too as both it’s appearances have been in Reno, Nevada. The city with the most Burners per capita. The state of Nevada’s Department of Cultural Affairs acquired it for the Traveling Exhibition Program which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Mr. Nelson is an excellent costumer in addition to being a fantastic photographer. In an interview last year, he shared some of his fashion philosophies with us: ”It can’t be too nice.”, he said, “Gotta be ragged/dusty/worn, ‘feral’, weathered. Find the roughened side. Let your clothing be aged.” When one of his expensive Wagner tuxedos became brittle after being washed in the bathtub he exclaimed, “This is great!” He and a friend are pictured below wearing two of his many illuminated ensembles (he is an expert at tracing filigree embroidery with el-wire).
“Like with wine, the serendipity of what happens to you in the clothing adds something of great significance.”, he added. In other words, being able to see the history of the clothing via distressing introduces the natural and organic influences of time, environment, and spontaneous happenstance into your repertoire of techniques for creating “worn” art.
He continued with this sage piece of fashionista advice, “Thrift shopping can help you create a library and a palette of colors/accessories with which to design.”
In conclusion, Mohammed felt compelled to state with some finality that when creating outfits, ”You gotta be willing to destroy stuff. Don’t hold back. It needs to be pushed.”
Indeed, Geoffrey and the participants photographed in this Tribe of Artists photo-gallery have pushed without holding back. Have you? If you think so we’d love to see it! Send pictures of the outfits that you consider wearable art to DustyBacon(at)DustyCouture(dot)Com . We’ll make sure Mohammed and the world sees them.
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