Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Textiles
First Advisor
Amalia Galdona Broche
Second Advisor
Brooks Hagan
Third Advisor
JOFF
Abstract
The textile work I have developed for my thesis is a curated exposing of the social interactions and violent phenomena of underprivileged realities. It investigates the theatrics of community violence, mechanisms of survival both through labor and bullets. Elements of my work are inspired by setting a scene through minimalistic installation and allowing you, the audience member, to become a spectator. With an emphasis on the injured form, the work incorporates identity-driven artifacts of my neighborhood back home. My garments in this graduate collection which are hand-patterned and self-sewn aim to represent victims, perpetrators and spectators of violence.
Subtle moments in my collection feature woven guns belonging to my two brothers, exposed “innards” (pockets) and palimpsest inspired textiles. Intimate moments of real bullets are hand woven into cloth using the linear exchange of the double block weave structure. Select textiles for my apparel are predominantly hand-woven on an eight-harness floor loom, making hand work highly important for this thesis development. The installation layout reflects both a violent scene, but also a candled curb which is meant to mourn the death of a community member, publicly. People back home threw punches, and here at RISD is where I learned how to throw picks. I describe garments as artifacts rather than archetypes and provide congruence between gunman and laborer; both who utilize contradicting tools.
Finally, through my thesis work, my direct intention is to force your gaze to shift onto the sections of marginality I am affiliated with through legacy. As I invite you to take on the role of spectator, I rehearse the violence we perform and the tools we carry with us. These are not only traditional tools but metaphorical tools. This semester I ask myself if a gun and its bullets can be considered a tool. These are the tools of my family members, immigrants, and gang members alike. Tools that blister a hand and tools that bloody a hand. Earning a Master’s degree at the Rhode Island School of Design is my choice of weapon. I promise to keep it concealed.
This is how I load my gun.
Recommended Citation
Camarillo, Rene, "this is how to shoot a gun." (2025). Masters Theses. 1476.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1476
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