Second Skin: straitjacket (2013) is one of a pair of garments based on the concept of a second skin which is common to a range of clothing-related fetishes. The work is part of a series of pieces made to explore my relationship with the psychotic man who has stalked me for over 25 years. He often wears a parka. The garment acts as a fetishistic surrogate for the wearer’s own skin – a second skin. Here, the parka and the straitjacket each provide a super-stimulus that is more intense than the normal response associated with real skin. In online spaces describes the act of donning a virtual or simulation of the human form. If I wear these garments I become the stalker. When he wears them he is closer to me. These two garments fit like a second skin.

Interview about this piece for Trauma, Dublin Science Gallery

From the Modelling Psychosis series. See other works in this series Manifestations, Second Skin: Parka, Bad Hand, Taking your Hand. Read the artist’s statement here.