Skeleton Textile

Artefact 17March 2025

A standing textile figure whose skeleton is printed directly onto reclaimed cotton and stitched into a soft form. The body is shown from the inside while the surface stays visibly worn.

Seated skeletal figure with tattoo-like drawings and TRIAR on its glowing amber torso, against white cloth

Overlapping translucent sheets in amber, orange and green lit from behind

Glowing amber figure torso printed with TRIAR and ribbed shadows

Amber leather-like tablet covered in handwritten Russian text on a white background

Contributors

Materials

Reclaimed cotton fabric
Water-based pigment ink
Recycled polyester wadding
Wooden armature

The body underneath is the same for everyone. A garment only decides what we see first.

01
Shaping the idea
Impulse: a brief to rethink worn textiles as carriers of images.
02
Select an anatomical atlas plate as the source image.
03
Test printing on reclaimed cotton from the TRIAR textile archive.
04
Making the figure
Digitise and simplify the skeleton drawing for fabric printing.
05
Print the pattern on panels of reclaimed cotton.
06
Cut and stitch the panels around a wooden armature.
07
Fill the form with recycled wadding.

Material properties

Made of: Reclaimed cotton, pigment ink, recycled wadding, wood
Color: Off-white, black, grey
Tactility: Soft, woven, slightly rough, yielding
Origin: Secondary
Associations: Anatomy, mortality, clothing
Size: [W × D × H cm]

Experience (object effect)

Cognitive: Inside and outside inverted
Mode of interaction: See, touch, examine
Emotional: Unease, tenderness

Context

Anatomical illustration
Fashion
Textile recycling

Themes

The body as surface
Reuse of materials
Visible and hidden structure

Artistic toolkit

Image transfer
Inversion of inside and outside
Upcycling

Technique

Textile printing
Pattern cutting
Hand stitching