Shade
copyright Jacky Puzey 2009
Shade is a project about influence and exchange. Its about beautifully tailored suits acting as passports, getting you into places that you might not otherwise expect. Its about the act of wearing the suit, dressing to pass into new communities. It starts from my memories of travelling the business circuit from England to Europe, USA and Africa when I was growing up, where invitations and image meant a lot on the diplomatic social circuit, but it also considers dressing to move countries, to migrate, to arrive in new cities, to create a passport into new communities and the rules of those passports……..
Jacky Puzey and Liz Lambert wear Shade Hostess/Activist (photograph J Puzey/D A Tidy)
Its also about creating Shade,a slang term from Trinidadian Carnival, meaning to make such a fabulous costume that everyone else is literally in your shade, under your influence.In a world of globalised business, its also about the unwritten influences and traditions in the suit itself, having the right suit, being part of the networks of cash and economic exchange, and how you access those, the human cost of migration and aspiration….Shade suits bear their allegiances and influences embroidered on their sleeves, rather than subtly hidden in social codes and exclusive invitations, and become a carnival cartel, exposing the deeply traditional codes inherent in the fabric of the suits as the wearers do business with themselves and their audience. As such, they interrogate the ideas of shared histories of trade and exchange -they are also not above showing their gang colours on their backs, their mob allegiances…..
Shade the Dandy 2008
Their umbrellas, based on traditional West African royal umbrellas and canopies, are both about the necessity of shade in a hot country, and used as standards, royal banners that announce presence. As the Shade envelopes you, it also becomes a literal metaphor for influence and power, whether royal ceremony or post colonial influence………
Shade is my current work. If you would like to discuss working with the Shade project, or collaborating with us on a new performance, please contact me.
Liz Lambert wears Shade Activist (photograph R Jacobs/J Puzey)
Hilary Ramsden wears Shade Dandy suit (photograph R Jacobs/J Puzey)