“Angel’s Echo”: Art & Textiles by Tara Dugger
Angel’s Echo, a project from the mind of Nashville native Tara Dugger, intertwines visual art and fashion with her unique approach—a blend of pseudo-sexuality and gritty industrial aesthetics that displays a strong commitment to process, materialism, and avant-garde silhouettes.
While drawing influence from her punk youth and penchant for wanderlust, Dugger’s DIY style is indebted to her roots in The Nations and Charlotte Park, with a particularly poignant connection to her father’s early guitar repair business in the very building now occupied by Random Sample. Dugger embraces the accessibility of upcycled materials, drawing parallels between West Nashville’s blue-collar roots and the area’s evolving identity throughout her lifetime. These full-circle moments manifest in circular motifs, chains, and earthy elements present in both her wearable fashions and collages.
Utilizing ink, paint, thread, metal, spray paint, fabric scraps, and natural elements such as flowers and grass, Angel’s Echo is both a testament to Dugger’s walks around The Nations and her dedication to intentionality and waste reduction. Dugger highlights her upcycled fashion while incorporating printmaking, sunlight photo transfers, exposure lamps, and painting. These one-of-a-kind wearable art pieces emanate from her intuition and attitude, navigating the intersection of art and fashion with unique sensibilities that funnel sexual expression through motifs of female empowerment and domination.
Dugger, who faces the challenges of living with an autoimmune disease, defies rules in her work. “Living with an autoimmune disease feels like you don’t have control and agency over your own body,” she says. “With personal style, you regain some of that power to present yourself. Having less control over my body, medically, has freed me in other ways—not giving a fuck and feeling strong.”
As she traverses interior and exterior terrains during her walks around Nashville, Dugger not only discovers materials but also forges connections within her community of three decades. Her art reflects a hardcore-rooted sense of self-expression and place, capturing the essence of a city undergoing transformation and displacement, while her wanderings instill a profound sense of curiosity and connection to the place she calls home.
Opening Reception + Runway show: 6pm on Mar 2nd
Closing reception: 6pm on Apr 20th