Veronica H. Lee’s collection, titled Dressing Body, Undressing Humanity is a deconstruction of human nature through the process of dress. The collection explores the capacity of depravity within human beings using the symbolic decaying nature of the body as a metaphor for the decline of human morality. From the over-consumption of resources, the abuse of others, the massive scale of destruction in warfare, and our individual offences against one another, we see human beings commit atrocious acts throughout history and invariably in our daily lives.
The body of work demonstrates these ideas through a dichotomy of “spirit and flesh”. Flesh referring to ephemeral pleasures or urges i.e. one’s own body, wealth, material possessions, food, etc., and spirit referring to the intangible pursuits of the soul: love, peace, joy—things one can’t find incorporeal objects. Through this duality, the thesis juxtaposes this dark side of our nature with our yearning for hope and lasting satisfaction.

The collection uses a variety of material manipulations to express human descent into darkness, the accumulation of all humanity atrocities and shedding of that darkness, representing a rebirth into the light. These materials include personalized prints of skin and bodies from a photoshoot, a red object bricolage textile as well as a fibre-optic fabric supplied by Lumigram Dreamluxe. The motif of the “growing wound”, as well as imagery of other violent bodily phenomena, is used throughout the collection to indicate the “decline” of human morality”.