Unraveled
Selma Dooremalen
Antwerp
About
Selma Dooremalen (2002) is an Antwerp-based artist with a background in Fashion and Jewellery Design. Her work explores the relationship between the body, personal experiences and materials. Through observation, material research and experimentation, she investigates how memories, identity and human connection can become embedded in materials. She translates these insights into tactile works that exist between jewellery, sculpture and installation.
Alongside her artistic practice, Selma is actively involved in the development and production of cultural projects and events. Through collaborations with other creatives, she contributes to building platforms where art, music and community come together.
Project
My master's thesis originated from a fascination with holes and tears in textiles. I began by investigating holes in clothing and created drawings, scans, photographs and material experiments around them. During this research, I became fascinated by the shapes, frayed edges and loose threads that remain visible in and around a hole. To me, these holes are not merely signs of damage, but places where something has disappeared while traces still remain. The threads that are left behind almost feel like memories of something that was once connected.
Only later did I begin to link this fascination to the stage of life I am currently experiencing: Emerging Adulthood. This is the period between roughly the ages of 18 and 25, during which identity and personal relationships undergo significant change. It is a phase in which you discover that the quality of relationships becomes more important than the quantity. As a result, you sometimes consciously distance yourself from certain people or groups, however difficult that may be.
The holes in textiles became a symbol of those experiences for me. Even when people grow apart, memories and emotions do not simply disappear. Something may have changed or become damaged, yet it still carries traces of what it once was.
From this idea, I began searching for an archetype within clothing and arrived at the hoodie. The hoodie symbolises streetwear and the various youth cultures from which this style originates, such as skate, surf and hip-hop culture. At the same time, the garment also conveys a sense of anonymity. Young adults often find it difficult to talk about feelings of loss, uncertainty or emotional pain and would rather conceal them. The hoodie can therefore function as a form of protection from the outside world.
I also see this idea of concealment reflected in the way people treat holes in clothing. Tears are usually repaired, hidden or discarded because they are perceived as something negative or incomplete. Within my work, I aim to do the exact opposite by making these holes visible and placing their vulnerability at the centre of attention.
For this reason, I ultimately incorporate holes and thread structures into a sculptural hoodie, in which the hood covers the face with loose threads originating from holes in textiles. By enlarging and foregrounding these elements, which are normally hidden or associated with damage, I aim to reveal the beauty of something that appears changed, damaged or incomplete. In doing so, I seek to make visible the ways in which experiences and loss leave traces that become part of a person's identity.
