An ongoing project involving research of various human and animal mutations, and the creation of corresponding mittens for these mutations--either real or fictional.
This project began as an exploration in absurd proportion, with the statements, "my arms are too long" or, "my hands are too big." (see Proposals, "proportions"). This exploration stems from fashion illustration and comic book style drawings where human beings become elongated, truncated and outright impossible. Since these images are within the imagination, I wanted to bring them out of that realm into the real world and making physical objects of dress for these imaginary people and characters. Items for mutants don't readily exist and must either be custom-made or altered in order to achieve non-standard proportion.
It also evolved from considering the concepts of covering, warmth and protection with the statement, "mutants need mittens too." Knitting is a practice that often involves the use of materials that are inherently warm. It is also associated with the winter, and accessories which provide cover and protection. The extraordinary circumstances of having a physical mutation, either real or perceived, brings out the ideas of specialness and also otherness. My attempt here is to turn these ideas around and make them positives, "different is good" as opposed to negatives, where being different has become associated with ostracism.
Mutations listed:
1) the "flipper baby"/ thalidomide mitten
2) extra digit/polydactyly mitten I
In the future I will be adding different mittens, addressing known medical mutations first, and then moving to fictional mutations later on.
