Julie Flusche
Textile Art
Transforming textile and fast fashion waste into hand stitched artworks. Reclaiming old and worn textiles to tell a new story and live a longer life.
Current Exploration: Back to the Earth
Our addiction to trendy fashion has tremendous consequences on our natural environment. For decades, the fashion industry has produced (and we have consumed) textiles which were designed quickly and mass manufactured with cheap fibers that break easily, resulting in garments that must be constantly replaced. Some people have changed the way they consume fashion by buying used clothing instead of new. Some are paralyzed by the complexity and scale of the problem. Some choose to ignore that there is a problem at all.
What if we stop ignoring our waste and start exploring its potential? Can fast fashion be enticing even after it has outlived its alluring, though fundamentally flawed, original design? We can't go back to the beginning and start over, but we must acknowledge our behaviors and learn from our mistakes so we can begin to heal. Solutions are out there, waiting for us to open our eyes and reimagine the world we have created.
Slow burn projects
Intentionally slow works in progress
My great-grandparents emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s from the Adriatic coast of Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. While the personal history of my ancestors remain a mystery, the regional myths, legends and folk craft of this corner of the world have captivated me. Interpreting these stories though my textile art practice allows me to forge connection with my ancestors and my forgotten heritage.
Heritage Exploration
An underworld being in Croatian myth, the Štriga, or witch, has the power to leave their body in their sleep. At night, the Štriga exits the mouth in the form of a fly, eventually turning into another creature (usually a black one) and wreaking havoc in the village. Peasants of the old days would place a rock in the mouth of a sleeping woman if a fly was seen about, blocking the fly's return and thus, killing the Štriga.
The ragged piecing of the silhouette symbolizes how the curse of the Štriga must have destroyed the woman's life. I like to think the woman would awaken from her possession with new vigor, having been released from the curse, but the ending is lost in folklore.
She probably choked on the rock.
Štriga
Croatia
Zlatorog is one of the most enduring legendary beings of Slovenian folk tradition. This majestic creature was the golden horned leader of a herd of goats that grazed in the mountains above the Soca River where the white fairies made their home. The fairies granted Zlatorog a special ability: the animal cannot die even if a hunter wounds it, because from its blood a magical and mighty healing flower grows. If wounded, Zlatorog will eat the flower and heal instantly. The Zlatorog stories tell of the interdependency between man and nature, and what happens when human greed goes too far. Regardless of the version, the story ends with Zlatorog being fatally wounded by a greedy hunter, healing itself and finally killing the hunter before leaving waste to the mountain where it once grazed.
My Zlatorog sits on a stone carpeted with magical flowers. I really hope he still grazes somewhere with the white fairies.
Zlatorog
Slovenia
