Clothes make the man

Through our clothes, we try to distinguish ourselves from others. What would be left of us if we didn’t use this covering to exhibit all the facets of our personality? And, over the course of time, what in fact is left of all the beautiful material once used for this? What remains of the styles and the colors that once had stolen our hearts?
All material gets worn out. Each round in the washer and dryer reduces the volume of the textile, as we can observe in that layer of fluff left behind in our dryer’s lint filter.
I always find that little pillow of fluff so endearing.
Is this residue still just as distinctive as our clothing which proceeded it?
I often asked myself this question as I looked at the fuzz from my dryer. I found those little blankets of fibre so lovely that for years I collected them, with the thought of someday doing something special with them. I implored everyone I knew to donate their own dryer remnants to me, just as I’ve collected material for my previous projects with help from others.
The monumental wall hanging ‘Clothes make the man’ [Kleren maken de man] makes use of material from many different people which has been rearranged and interwoven into a new whole, in which we are all united.