UN/CONSCIOUS
JAMIE-LEE GARNER

Un/conscious

Emerging country artist Jamie-Lee Garner is debuted her first solo exhibition un/conscious at Firstdraft in Sydney's Woolloomooloo and proudly supported by Re/lax Remade.

October 2024

Un/conscious by Jamie-Lee Garner

un/conscious is a kaleidoscopic wall of colour
featuring sixteen brightly coloured and tactile 2.5D canvases composed of recycled vintage towels offcuts salvaged from the Re/lax Remade factory floor.

Each piece is an ode to the generations of families who owned these towels, and the memories that permeate each fabric remnant.

For the artist, the act of creating this work is an effort to transform the accumulative memories of the textiles into a new work of beauty. For Re/lax Remade, the work represents ourcommitmentto waste reduction, and the honouring of our beloved materials right to the pointy end.

"I was so unprepared for the emotional reaction I had to this work 🥹 It’s been a long time since I handed @jl_gi her first bag of scraps. I had forgotten that the scraps she transformed in this work are my VERY FIRST SCRAPS from my very first hats, and the many dark nights of the soul they ushered me through in deep lockdown, as I tentatively explored this new shape of my creative self after motherhood. All my family’s hats are in this work, scraps from all the very first testers which I handed out to the kids and the old men at the dog park while shyly exploring the idea that they could possibly maybe be a thing people would want to wear. It was a boot camp in self belief for me, and these scraps are the weapons I used against intense impostor syndrome and that feeling of not really having the right to take up time and space making pretty hats while the world burned and we homeschooled our kids. So being immersed in the scraps, in this incredible work, surrounded by my family and the Re/lax Remade team, watching so many strangers (and@tanyaplibersek!) engaging with the work, was HUGE for me. I cried and then I slept a lot. Thank you Jamie for taking my beloved textiles all the way to the pointy end, and truly transforming them into a spectacular immersive experience full of colour and emotion, memories and love." - Karina

Un/conscious - Opening Night

October 18, 2024