Saturday, August 17, 2013

"At What Price Fashion?" Collage. Shelby Pizzarro

"At What Price Fashion?" Collage
Saturday, March 25, 1911. 4:40PM. Quitting time for the employees of The Triangle Waist Company. The factory occupied the eight, ninth, and tenth floors of the Asch Building at Greene Street and Washington Place in Manhattan.

Owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris employed five hundred workers, mostly Italian and Jewish immigrant women, to produce blouses known as "shirtwaists". The style was "the" fashion statement of the day, popularised by artist Charles Dana Gibson's "Gibson Girl".

 At the close of business for the week a fire started under a cutting table in a scrap bin on the eight floor from either a match or discarded cigarette.  The fire spread rapidly across the wooden floors. A passerby saw smoking coming from the building and raised a fire alarm. To prevent theft, the managers had the doors to the stairwells and exits locked. There was no escape.

In total, 146 workers died. It remains as one of the deadliest disasters in New York history. The oldest victim was forty-three, the youngest fourteen. Many jumped to their death, fell off faulty fire escapes, or died of smoke inhalation.

I have been interested in the Fire for many years now. I'm not sure why, but I have always had a fascination with the turn of the century Lower East Side history from the time I was a young girl. It always moved me deeply, in a way that I imagine people who believe in reincarnation feel. 

The collage is a conventional piece. The photo is of the burning Asch building. Surrounding the photo of the women dressed in their "waists" are the names of all 146 workers who perished in the fire. I also added a Catholic and Jewish prayer for the dead.

The substrate is canvas. The papers are handmade, art, and sewing pattern paper. Images are from my collection of vintage photos and news clippings. I also used rubber stamped images, inks and dyes. I wanted to keep the piece monochromatic.

So, at what price fashion? We make the choice every time we shop.

4 comments:

Sue Marrazzo Fine Art said...

This looks like it took a lot of time, and effort!!!
NICE, Shelby!

Mary Beth Brath said...

Great post Shelby. Thank you for sharing this story and your artwork.

Sisterhood of the Muse said...

Thanks so much, Sue. It took time, but was something I really wanted to do. It's my little way of keeping their memory alive.

Thanks for taking time to comment.

Sisterhood of the Muse said...

Thanks so much Mary Beth for taking the time to read the post and for leaving a comment. :-)