Lizzie Ridout

Memorial to the Named and the Faceless

Lizzie Ridout studied Graphic Design at Falmouth College of arts and went on to complete an MA in Communication Art and Design at the Royal College of Art in London. She currently juggles part time lecturing at FCA and Plymouth College of Art with her own work.

“ Good clothes mould themselves to you. Direct from a shop they have model proportions. Months, even years on, after constant wash and wear, jeans sag slightly, ode to a particular knobbly knee or private exploit.

Garments retain memories of particular events. And when we pass them on, we are strangely reluctant to offer any information about this liaison, to provide any reference to our ownership. We feel as we hand our black bin bag over the charity shop counter, that we are at the same time cutting ourselves free of our material past. Occasionally but only very rarely, am item becomes identified by a name-tape sewn into the collar.

Objects in charity shops may have had a series of owners – this body of work attempts to heighten awareness of one particular owner, and one particular passage in time. This project is a memorial to the everyday and a gesture to lives living and lived.”