THE SHIRT

06-08.2024- The VIII International Triennial of Textile, Hungary

International Contemporary Art Project

museum: SAVARIA MHV MUSEUM, SZOMBATHELY

organized by: CULTURAL FOUNDATION FOR THE TEXTILE ARTS and the SAVARIA MHV MUSEUM

• One-of-a-kind Artwork
• Year: 2023
• dimension: artwork- 20cm/20cm/2.5cm
  
• soft: fabric on painting canvas with stretched primed Italian fabric (70% cotton and 30% synthetics) and a wedged wooden frame made of softwood lumber
• materials: 100% fine Italian cotton, Madeira embroidery treads, fusing, pearls 
  
• Technique: digitally embroidered feather, further enhanced by using hand made technique of intuitively adding texture, consisted of different kinds of treads; hand stitched to the canvas, two pearls to lift up the feather
• style- minimal, contemporary, 3D sculpture, fashion design
  
• fashion elements- collar of a shirt
• colors- white, off white, ivory, silver, sparkling embroidery tread
  

Concept:  THE SHIRT

This textile work examines the limits of tolerance through a symbolic reading of ethical and philosophical traditions. The biblical injunction “If you have two shirts, share with the person who does not have one” (Luke 3:11) is placed in dialogue with a foundational principle of Kung Fu philosophy: one must not initiate attack, yet bears responsibility for self-defense. Read metaphorically, both positions articulate a boundary between generosity and self-preservation.

The “shirt” is understood metaphorically. While a second shirt signifies surplus and ethical sharing, the singular shirt represents the soul or spirit—an irreducible inner core that cannot be exchanged, commodified, or surrendered without loss of integrity. While openness and compassion remain essential, they operate only up to the threshold where spiritual autonomy is threatened. The work proposes “zero tolerance toward darkness” not as aggression, but as an ethical refusal: a conscious defense of inner sovereignty against forces that seek to erode it.

Moreover, the "shirt" is considered a gift from Above—entrusted rather than owned. The feather, delicately embedded within the textile structure, symbolizes protection from Heaven—an intangible yet resilient force that guards what is sacred. Its fragility contrasts with its function as a shield, articulating a form of defense that is neither violent nor passive, but grounded in ethical refusal.
Through material restraint, layering, and softness, the work frames the garment as an existential boundary: a site where compassion yields to responsibility, and where tolerance reaches its necessary limit.