miniature clothing project
Vicki Ragan and her sister for Photofest Santa Fe, New Mexico
My sister and I found a reproduction of a painting from the National Portrait gallery titled
the Ragan Sisters. It was painted in the 1800s. My sister bought us each a framed copy of
it which we have each treasured for years. We wanted to do a tribute to it. In the painting the
sisters are in matching outfits. My sister and I are very similar and yet very different at the
same time. I have a degree in art and she in business. Her creative outlet is clothing. She use
to have more Halloween sweaters than she could wear in the month of October. When ever I
would chide her about wasting money on more clothing than she could ever hang up she would
refer to it as wearable art. Normally I dress very differently than my sister but we are very
similar in size and shape. She is a serious shopper. Whenever she would find something on sale
that she felt she looked good in she would buy another for me also. She took these gifts very seriously and wanted me to wear them to my art receptions. I usually would hide them in the back of my closet. With the Ragan sisters project I decided to embrace this expression of sisterly love. Your miniatures reinforce her concept of "wearable art". This is one dress from this body of work.
Collection of Shep Barbash and Vicki Ragan, Long Island NY
2010
