Weeds

Battle jackets are clothing item associated with the punk and metal scenes, and DIY culture in general. People pick up patches at gigs, record shops and distros to name a few places and then assemble them to make an item unique to the wearer. They are almost a badge of honour and a badge of belonging.

I have made several battle jackets in the past (see Tend to It for another example) but this one is the first where I designed and hand printed nearly all the patches. Aside from those, the badges mainly came from friends and the cute mistake patch I picked up while travelling.

I love making battle jackets. I like how you can be methodical and creative but also DIY, how you can make something that looks like it was thrown together but which actually took time to craft. Again, this is a piece that questions the idea of value when it comes to art making and how printing onto fabric as opposed to paper devalues the item. The battle jacket is an act of rebellion in itself so they also naturally subvert ideas of production