Galen Schuhmavher

My body of work critiques manipulation and consumption of the fashion industry. Using parasites as analogy and motif I have developed a mock luxury line of fashionable goods made from and embellished with cast leeches. My work investigates how leeches in the 18th century were traded and consumed as a fashionable good during bloodletting's peak of use and how this consumption of the exotic has transferred to present day luxury. Parasites and luxury brands’ parasocial relationships with their consumers are being compared through the use of fashion photography, framing the parasites as a form of exotic embellishment that should spark desire in the consumer. The embellished body is a core theme of my parasite fashion, allowing the leeches to create a visceral tension between grotesque and gaudy as they allude to infestation. "Am i wearing the leeches or are the leeches wearing me?"