LONDON — Stella Jean and the artist Michael Armitage have put their heads, and hands, together to create two limited-edition sweater designs to be sold on Yoox that will raise money for the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute and Italy’s Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.
Half of the sale proceeds will benefit NCAI, Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute, a nonprofit visual art space dedicated to the growth and preservation of contemporary art in East Africa. The institute was established by Armitage. Armitage said he believes “this time, more than ever, calls for collaboration and mutual support.” He said that Jean, an Italian designer of Haitian descent, has an “ethos of collaboration and support and her insight has been an education.”
She added that the idea of working with an artist to create a wearable piece — with meaning — was exciting. “When you put it on, you are part of it. You live it. It’s like an evolution for art.” Armitage said he and Jean chose his work from 2014, “Giraffe Grows a Doum Palm,” for one of the sweaters. A doum palm is a tree with a forked trunk that bears edible fruit. It is native to Egypt. The painting shows the giraffe with what looks like antlers sprouting out of its head.
He said that making those images work on a commercial garment was Jean’s task. “I was excited to see how that would translate, what she would see in the work, and how she would position it.”
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