Julia Baggini ’25 | Milla Manheim ’25
Ashley Kim ’23 is a versatile and dedicated student, demonstrating expertise in numerous fields such as visual arts, sciences, and music. This February, Kim debuts Threads in the Crawford Campus Center Gallery. Her gallery show is closely connected to her recent Lilley Fellowship project on sustainability in the fashion industry.
David Sigel, Upper School Arts Department Chair, believes the Lilley Fellowship provides an opportunity for students to explore their interests and passions. Sigel says, “It is an opportunity to allow students to go further on a self-directed discovery of something they are interested in.” Kim adds, “There is no limit to what personal interests can be explored through an academic lens.”
Photo courtesy of Gianna Trala ’23
Threads connects the material purpose of Kim’s project to the universal benefits. She explains, “The most important aspect of this fellowship has been not just diving into and learning more about the fabric that we put on our bodies, but also about the fabric of our society and what we stand for. Clothing isn’t just about our self-expression, it’s also about our values.”
While the inspiration for the title Threads stems from the material that proved her project possible, it also has a more universal meaning. Kim elaborates on this idea, stating, “Threads are the links that connect people to our planet, and the links that connect people with others around the world and their history.”
Kim explains that Threads is composed of “images on the walls as well as pieces of clothing that I learned about during my fellowship.” She describes some of the clothes in the gallery, such as the “sweater and hat that were produced by the New York textile lab that is a fiber shed affiliate, which produces climate beneficial wool.” She elaborates, “The wool that’s grown using regenerative agricultural techniques, so what you’re wearing is both ethically produced and helps sequester carbon from the air.”
Katalin Colyer, Upper School Biology teacher and Kim’s Lilley advisor, points out the significance of her exhibit. She says, “It is another way to show all of the work that she did…it’s really hard to distill all of these things that she was part of into an eight-minute presentation.”
“She takes a very holistic approach,” describes Colyer, “She’s interested in science, social issues, and fashion, and she is able to zoom out to look at all of these things together, which I think offers a unique perspective and we’re going to see that with her exhibit.”
Sigel helped Kim set up the gallery. He describes, “Ashley really pushed it back on what her vision was, how she wanted to use the space, and let her develop her own vision.” He corroborates the importance of sustainability, saying that “it adds a new awareness and appreciation for how we think about the simplest thing of getting dressed in the morning and where those clothes are made and how they are made and are sustainable.”
After extreme diligence and dedication, Kim shared her project and discoveries with the Upper School in a presentation on September 22, 2022. Kim’s goal was to “raise awareness about sustainable fashion because we all wear clothes. Even if fashion isn’t your thing or sustainability isn’t your thing we all get up and get dressed every day. What I hope is that we can be more intentional about daily rituals like what we choose to wear, but also what we choose to eat and how we choose to carry out our daily lives in a way that is ethical.”
Kim expands, “[Being] ethical in terms of how we’re affecting the planet and also how we sometimes subconsciously perpetuate systems of injustice that exploit people within our offshored supply chains.” Kim has educated EA students on the idea of sustainability and shared important solutions to transforming their lives ethically in ways that ultimately improve the world.