When a performance costume ceases to be used as a tool for performance and enters an archive, it acquires a 'fourth persona'.  On top of the private, public and professional identities a single costume represents of the individual/s who wore it, an archived costume also represents a collective identity - that of the society from within which the costume was created.

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The costume tells multiple stories of people, time and place, and as such, is a valuable research tool to better understand the nuanced identity of a collective of humans.

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Can a collection of archived costumes, then, inform notions of a greater collective,

or 'national', identity?

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How can archived costume be exhibited in a way which allows communication of these multiple histories, and enable an audience to gain a sense of something greater than just the individual who wore it?

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This experimental exhibition aims to test the ways in which these questions could be answered by placing archived costume at the centre of enquiry as a cultural marker.