Architecture Meets Fashion in a New Exhibition at the Muskegon Museum of Art

The Muskegon Museum of Art presents, Annica Cuppetelli: Tight/Laced, a new exhibition opening on Thursday, May 19. Tight/Laced is a large-scale architectural installation by Detroit-based artist and fashion designer Annica Cuppetelli, who uses clothing materials and techniques to explore the constraints and restrictions society has placed on women’s bodies throughout history.

Through wood framing, fabric, lacing, and grommets, Tight/Laced features two large architectural forms that directly reference the corset, a fashion device made to squeeze and reshape the female body to force it to conform to the tastes and ideals of the day. Through her work, Cuppetelli reveals the ongoing struggle women face for bodily autonomy.

“For hundreds of years, a woman’s body has been a battlefield where cultural, scientific, and political forces have competed for dominance over the interests of the owners of said bodies. A woman’s body is consistently a site of constriction and restriction, to wit, a corset squeezes the body to permanently change its shape, while laws limit what women can do with their own bodies. There is an inherent tension in being the owner of a woman’s body and that is the tension that I try to communicate with my work.” states Cuppetelli.

An opening reception will be held at the Muskegon Museum of Art on Thursday, May 19 at 5:00 PM, followed by an Artist Talk at 6:30 PM.

This exhibition is opening in conjunction with Measure Twice: Sculptures of Ted Lott.

Annica Cuppetelli: Tight/Laced is underwritten by the Susan and Frank Bednarek Fund of the Community Foundation for Muskegon County.