During the 2 months RaumArs Artist Residency Nadin Reschke engaged with people in Rauma to find out how clothes and everyday fashion reflect and create identities.

The German artist interviewed youngsters in Rauma about the way they dress, what is important about their clothes; their likes, dislikes and favourite clothes; and how their style had changed over time. She asked the youngsters to choose clothes from their wardrobe that they felt most self-assured in. This led to a series of photographs portraying the youngsters in their favourite outfit, as well as the clothes they believe their parents and grandparents liked them to wear most. The resulting three photographs of each teenager are presented in the exhibition alongside with each other creating a kind of grid, which allows a comparison between the different clothes and the self that is performed. In the first row of photographs you see the teenagers in their own favourite outfit, feeling most comfortable and self-assured. In the 2nd row they dress the way they believe their parents like them best and the 3rd row shows the teenagers dressed in clothes they think their grandparents like them best.

The photographic series shows how clothes are central to how identities are performed. The relationship of identity to dress is not something pre-given, but something that emerges through everyday practices of selecting, trying on, and wearing clothes. Nadin Reschke met the youngsters one by one, providing a context in which the youngsters were eager to play with and perform different identities. The interviews also expanded into a critical discussion of fashion, consumption, and cultural meanings of dressing. The set of dresses you see hanging in the middle of the room are the result of a collaborative design and sewing process. Here Reschke worked with women from Association for the Unemployed of Rauma. Together they set up a textile studio and worked for one month continuously in several workshops and different locations throughout the city. They used different techniques such as silk-screen printing to design handmade fabrics. Each of the women designed and sewed a dress that reflects part of their identity. Central topics discussed in the design process were geographical aspects, for example the importance of the sea, the influence of nature and weather conditions, but also historical, political as well as biographical aspects.

The final set dresses were shown by the women in a performative action in the Rauma Museum (Marela) and documented in a series of staged photographs. The rooms of the museums that once were home to the ship owner family Granlund provided a historical setting on which the women reacted. In these photographs you see the women in everyday activities like reading and knitting as if the museum was their home, thereby transforming the museum to a place of contemporary life. Clothes of the Local Colour project were made in collaboration with Nadin Reschke, Erika Raittila, Kristiina Virtanen and Meri Haavisto at the office for the unemployed. The following participated in the photo projec Cecilia Helin, Saara Helkelä, Ilmari Immonen, Nora Kullberg Viivi Lunden, Henrietta Meriö, Ella Mäkelä, Eetu Raittila, Maarit Räinä, Sini Salminen, Venla Sandell, Unna Teerinkoski, Jermin Vahala, Eija Welling and Laura Westerlund.

Many thanks for the co-operation to Association for the Unemployed of Rauma, the Rauman Normaalikoulu Teacher Training School and the Rauma Art School.