Brooke Fairgray, 20, studied at Whitecliffe College of Art and Design, Auckland

Her collection – It’s What You do to Me

“My collection is inspired by surrealist artist, Salvador Dali, and his central, obsessive urge to understand sexuality and mortality. My collection responds to the Dalinian female figure; their internal and external elements which represent the sense of fear, death and desire.”

“My graduate collection comments on the human position, the shift from animal as trophy to a narcissistic love affair and evokes perverse pleasure in mortality. I have toyed with the story of a hunter; desire of death which is first internalized then sexualized as the potent female. My models parade fears of sexuality and mortality, laced with raw meat; an aggressive transpiration of the notion to devour and simultaneous mimicry of anatomical muscle. The bloody meat alludes to “the art of clothing which marks the transitional point of access from the outer surface to the inner realm of muscle and ultimately bone (Dali, 1936).”

“It’s What You do to Me mocks Dali’s burning desire and sodomic tendencies which take him to the heights of paroxysm by using a flaming giraffe print, a satirical ode to the ancient town of Sodom, said to be burnt by a fire from the Heavens due to the wickedness of its inhabitants.”

“It’s What You do to Me brings together fear, death and transgression in a collection in which disgust bares the imprint of desire.”