Widi Asari is an Indonesian fashion designer whose design process begins from material as if it is a subject. She works together with Riyadhus Shalihin, an artist that investigates the macro and micro relations between the local context, bodies and what can be absorbed and learned from these relationships. Their collaborative projects create new meanings and values to the unseen residual material found in different locations in Indonesia.
Lusi Pakan Sumbi Failure De Couture is a performance highlighting the residues of threads as a concerning consequence of the post-industrial textile economy period in Indonesia. The name Sumbi stems from a legend in Sundanese ancient society and refers to textile cycles. By tracing back the residues left by such cycles – both in the environment and inside workers’ bodies – the work reveals the hidden worthlessness of textile manufacturing and questions fashion as a ‘couture’ of failures.