FACT: fashion + art construct tomorrow
Fashion and art converge to showcase forward-thinking innovation within an urban context at Sheehan Gallery’s exhibition, FACT: fashion + art construct tomorrow, on display from 28 January to 4 April 2025. Works from painter Erik ReeL and fashion designers Palani Bearghost, Alena Kalana, and Fabiola Soavelo, featuring over 50 fashion and art objects, including mannequin ensembles, paintings, and drawings, invite a re-evaluation of how we think about the future, empowering personal agency for both the artist and the viewer.
Palani Bearghost
How often do students from Northern Cheyenne and Crow Nation tribes collaborate with a fashion designer to create a remarkable fabric rooted in nature and Indigenous culture?
Alena Kalana
What is it about Vietnam’s national cultural icon, the conical hat, and the engineered contours of the rice fields that inspired the creation of “Ruộng lúa”?
Fabiola Soavelo
Are you curious as to how ten-year-old discarded leather scraps are transformed into innovative clothing shapes that challenge the viewer’s perception of the familiar?
Quench your curiosity and dive into the inspiring work of Palani Bearghost, Alena Kalana, and Fabiola Soavelo. Embracing futuristic ideas, Bearghost, Kalana, and Soavelo present high-street, avant-garde collections infused with a vibrant energy that reflects urban culture. The exhibition examines future-thinking design philosophies that aim for zero waste, using resources such as deadstock that already exist in the ecosystem, as they divert material waste from the landfill into beautiful fashion, addressing a heavily polluted environment in which fashion is the planet’s third largest polluter.
Beyond sustainability, their designs master an art form of cultural significance, challenging assumptions and old ways of thinking about fashion, paving the way for a more meaningful future. For example, their designs engage in intercultural exchange, which challenges socio-cultural biases and the way we look at fashion, as demonstrated by their collections influenced by Native American, Vietnamese, and Swiss-Malagasy cultures. The androgynous creations presented by Bearghost and Soavelo serve to neutralize gender labels, thereby initiating discourse regarding the future of societal biases, stereotypes, and individual identity.
Painter Erik ReeL’s most recent body of work explores, without machine or mechanical assistance, how we “read” markings on a surface. For ReeL, “marking is a defining characteristic of the human and the primordial act of signification and meaning for human consciousness.” [Arconi].
About Sheehan Gallery
Founded in 1973, the Sheehan Gallery at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, is one of the premier exhibition spaces for living artists, functioning as an essential intellectual and cultural resource for the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Named in honor of Donald H. Sheehan, the ninth president of Whitman, the gallery is committed to the display of works by both emerging and established artists, with a mission that transcends the liberal arts curriculum, providing a wide array of exhibitions, events, and educational opportunities.
Exhibition Details
- FACT: fashion + art construct tomorrow
- Featuring Erik ReeL painting, and three ecologically-minded designers, Palani Bearghost, Alena Kalana, Fabiola Soavelo, curated by Rhonda P. Hill
- Presented by Sheehan Gallery at Whitman College, Kynde Kiefel, Director
- On View 28 January – 4 April 2025
- 21 February 5:30 – 6:30, Creative Panel Event, Olin Hall Auditorium
- 21 February 6:30, Artists Reception, Sheehan Gallery
- Sheehan Gallery at Whitman College
- 345 Boyer Avenue, Olin Hall
- Walla Walla, WA 99362
Designer Photo Credits
- Palani Bearghost. photo by Randy Barton
- Alena Kalana: photo by James Gagos
- Fabiola Soavelo: photo by Karla Del Orbe
Feature image: FACT: fashion + art construct tomorrow installation, Sheehan Gallery at Whitman College | photo by Tara J. Graves, courtesy of Sheehan Gallery, 2025
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