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About the work....

Opulence is a definitive term I use to frame my work as it relates to the interconnected relationship between economics, social patterns, beauty, inequity, extraction of resources, labor, morality, gender, and class. Opulence as represented in history includes highly adorned textiles, lacework, beadwork, embroidery, and other handwork, all requiring exquisite and often rare materials such as fine silk, linen, gold threads, and gems. Opulent textile items require fabrication by highly skilled laborers, who are often compensated at substandard rates. An opulent garment represents the imbalance of our human condition. In the possession of few, requiring excessive wealth, the richly adorned garments and textiles are tangible objects reflecting societal values. 

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Maggie Leininger weaving in a fallow cotton field in Maricopa County, Arizona. 2012.

Copyright Maggie Leininger

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