The Brvtalist is pleased to premiere a new video work from Chicago's Hvnter Gvtherer. Titled Disarmament, the piece represents months of apprenticeship, innovation and full immersion into the brand's unique world of metalworking and fashion design. Drawing inspiration from sources such as Hvnter Gvtherer's Bronze Age collection and the current political climate, multi-media artist Mikayla Brown created Disarmament during her internship with the brand and the result is a striking social commentary which emphasizes the connection between the human body and the elements that surround us.
We are at a crossroads between:
Male and Female
Ancient and Modern
Past and Present
Our shields are metal, leather and skin.
These coverings are made from material that protects and conducts, reflects and responds. Metal is a conduit that passes energy between us. Leather too, our second skin, is death given new life. The items we wore as armor yesterday are dis-armor today, banding us together, creating a channel for the fluidity of our identity.
Something can be anything. Someone can be anyone. There is no correct gender, race, creed or god. The only truth is us.
The People and The Process -
“Disarmament” was created by multi-media artist Mikayla Brown during her internship with Hvnter Gvtherer, via the Careers and Professional Experience program (CPAX) at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. During the semester, Mikayla met with head designer and owner Laura Prieto-Velasco in her Chicago studio. There she learned and practiced basic metalworking techniques within an atelier/private studio setting.
With Mikayla’s interest in contemporary storytelling and her interdisciplinary background, it only seemed natural for her to create a visual archive of the current Hvnter Gvtherer collection using photography and video. From November to early December, Mikayla took over the Hvnter Gvtherer Instagram —sharing her experiences working in the studio for the independent Chicago-based label.
Over the course of three months, she developed a unique connection between intuitive media and material knowledge, forging a dialogue between wrought and digitized, past and future, hand and eye.
For her final project Mikayla proposed to do a video featuring performance and video artist Hazkel Brown and interdisciplinary artist Ona Sain set to the music of Christopher Dorian, sharing her perspective of Hvnter Gvtherer’s conceptual mission. As a result, Mikayla envisioned and delivered this striking film, closing out 2016 for Hvnter Gvtherer.
-JRS