Material Girl: Jean Shin clothes the Amon Carter’s ‘Museum Body’

Lindsey Wilson·
Dallas/Ft WorthVisual Art
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In our current era of fast fashion and 15-second TikTok videos, Jean Shin is looking for permanence, or at least a way to honor the people whose work and energy is directed at one common goal, at one specific place, during one particular point in time.

In this case, that would be her latest site-specific exhibition, Jean Shin: The Museum Body, on display through June 30, 2025, at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth. It’s a way of revisiting her first solo exhibition, 2004’s Cut Outs and Suspended Seams at MoMA QNS, and updating it with clothing donated by the Carter staff.

In both commissions, Shin snips the seams of these discarded garments and uses the textiles to create a large-scale wall mural that’s topped with a soft skeletal structure of shoelaces, suspenders, lanyards, undergarments, and more hanging above.

“For the most part, museum visitors don’t even know that there are hundreds of people behind the scenes who work to make their experience enjoyable and safe,” Shin says. “Viewers often enter a museum and think about the artist, but I want them to understand they are entering a work site and see the work that goes into it. Nearly 50 people from the Carter’s staff donated their clothes to this, spanning all levels of the museum’s workforce, and this is a way to honor and represent them.”

Using clothing as an art material makes Shin’s work universal. Some pieces may have been stained or not fit the wearer anymore, while others might have more sentimental, symbolic meaning. But when Shin brings them all together, they become a sort of living history. Some elements from her 2004 show are even woven into The Museum Body, deepening what Shin calls “an archive of the artistic world.”

“My creative process depends on other people’s willingness to be open and make art together,” she says. “Do you think anyone would have held onto these clothes for the past 20 years? But I did! They become an institutional memory, and in doing so show that people and their contributions are not disposable.”

Some are quick to label Shin an environmental artist, and while she admits she didn’t start out with recycling and conservation as her main goal, she has since embraced the ecological messages her work inherently conveys.

“More and more my work has become site-specific to tell the story of its unique habitat, and all the beautiful species and biodiversity that enrich the ecosystem,” Shin says. “Today’s consumerism and fast fashion absolutely have an impact, with all these things we buy ending up in landfills and destroying our habitat. We think about the clothes that we wear and how they protect our bodies, but are we protecting our bigger body, the planet?”

The textiles Shin cuts apart are reminiscent of fashion pattern pieces, carefully laid out in the mural as though they’re on a cutting table, but she advises viewers to also think about the negative space that’s fragmenting the skirts, shirts, and trousers.

“When you start to look closely at something, you see the cracks,” she says. “If you examine this clothing, you’ll be able to recognize the hierarchy and possibly even guess what comes from which department. But ultimately it’s about bringing all the pieces together so they can work in harmony, just like the team.”

Since the exhibition is on display for nearly a year, Shin anticipates visitors returning often. “People feel very invested in this work, especially if it’s their clothing on display. They are literally a piece of art, and I think that reaction when they realize it is a delight.”

—LINDSEY WILSON

Lindsey Wilson

Lindsey Wilson is a Dallas-based arts writer and critic with a journalism master's from Syracuse University and an undying love for chips and salsa. When not at the theater (which is rare), she enjoys reading, playing with her dogs, and traveling. Photo by Jeffrey Hummel.