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# Project Description We Are All One Millie Potton Summary Final work Embrioderer Embrioderer College Central Saint Martins Course BA (Hons) Fine Art Graduation year 2025 My practice delves into a rich tapestry of ideas, focusing on environmental resistance and the vibrant forms of youth culture. This interdisciplinary journey involves performance, drawing, and craft forms such as felting, beading and embroidery. It is a profoundly personal exploration that consists in studying ideas through material experimentation. My focus on skateboarding, graffiti, surfing, and diving culture is not just an academic pursuit but a reflection of a deep emotional connection to these forms of expression. My ongoing main piece, We Are All One (2025), the process has been slow, meditative, and involved self-reflection. It is interesting to see how the beading has improved from the beginning side (left side of the bra) to the current (right). I want to engage the viewer using planned decoration and fine detail, allowing them to appreciate the journey of creation and the commitment to craft. I find comfort in the repetitive motion of beading. It relieves stress and is a thoughtful way of engaging with materials. Beading marine forms also allows time for me to think about the ocean and my experiences with it. This piece lays bare my affinity for the ocean's beauty and, equally, my anxiety over what is to come for its ecosystems. Similar to artist George Nuku, I aim to captivate viewers with the allure of materials. My approach to sustainability is not just unique; it is urgent. While I strive to be sustainable in my practice, I am acutely aware of the structural imbalances in the fight against climate change and plastic pollution. Actual change can only come from governments prioritising corporate accountability over individual action. Capitalism has unfairly shifted environmental responsibility onto individuals, but no personal sustainability can compensate for systemic pollution. Corporations like Amazon are the problem (and solution) as they are major contributors to environmental degradation but have the power and resources to drive significant positive change. Systemic accountability and responsible corporate leadership are essential to combat climate change and pollution effectively, rather than placing the entire burden on individuals. Amazon's total emissions were 68.82 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2023, more than Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Denmark (Twidale, 2024). Like Nuku (who carves disposable plastics into Māori treasures), I want to seduce viewers into rethinking value. I try to make sustainable choices, but I know studio habits will not solve the crisis. By transforming mass-produced items into handcrafted artworks, I aim to contrast the disposable nature of fast fashion with the time, care, and creativity needed for sustainable artisanal craft. I intend to show the value of sustainability and the need for systemic change in our relationship with consumer goods. I want to challenge the throwaway culture of fast fashion by reusing and repurposing materials. For the bra, I challenged myself not to buy anything from large corporations to prove that you do not need expensive materials to make something beautiful; you can find beauty elsewhere. All the materials are upcycled, reclaimed, and bought from car boot sales, charity shops, the university's swap shop, independent haberdasheries, and broken jewellery beads/ crystals. The technique and process of beading are central to the meaning as it is slow, tactile, and meditative, the opposite of fast fashion production. The intricate beadwork, organic layering, and deliberate use of varied materials all contribute to this contrast, inviting viewers to reconsider their relationship with fashion and consumption. Most of my work involves cheaply giving identity and beauty to consumerist objects to reset our relationship with our belongings and attachment to materialism. Donna Haraway uses the term Chthulucene to emphasise the interconnectedness of all humans and nonhuman beings and the urgent need for collaborative action to address environmental challenges. Haraway named the term after the spider Pimoa Cthulhu. It evokes tentacular, snaking, networked relations and an unbounded sense of self and the world (Haraway, D., 2016, pp. 31-33). For my bra, I envision the coral as physically growing from the wearer's breasts, symbolising our close entanglement with the ocean. I chose this garment to critique the exploitation of the ocean's natural resources, such as marine life, oil, gas, and minerals, which are often commercialised and sold as desirable products, like bras. The bra stands for the commodification of natural elements, highlighting how the environment, particularly the ocean, is treated like a fashionable item that can be bought and consumed. I aim to give everyday objects a unique identity, story, and history, making them more than just objects but carriers of meaning, significance, and emotional attachment. By infusing these objects with a sense of personality, I want to evoke a feeling of connection and mindfulness in my audience, making them feel more attached to the objects and their stories. Consumerism thrives on disposability and novelty. When objects are seen as interchangeable or soulless, people replace them quickly. If an object has a relationship with its owner (gifts, memories, rituals), it becomes harder to throw away or replace mindlessly. Most of my art I have made as a gift for someone. I am interested in using detail, delicacy, and intimacy to help nurture an appreciation for everyday objects. By adding this layer of personalisation, I encourage a more thoughtful ownership of our possessions. In the performance, The Crimson Tide (2025), the mermaid (myself) is tangled up in a fishing net, suffocated by rubbish, looking injured and dying. The mermaid symbolises the beauty and current vulnerability of our oceans. The fishing net that has trapped her, injuries on her, plastic littered around, dead coral, visual projection of dead coral videos, and oil rig sounds playing from a speaker all come together to display the destructive impact of human actions on our ocean ecosystems. I aim to leave the audience with a feeling of despair and foreboding. When performing in the bra, I use special effects makeup to add another medium and display cuts and wounds while being the mermaid creature. This adds a layer of realism and drama to the performance, a bit of body shock that further immerses the audience in the narrative of my work. Changing minds and perspectives may be the only way to save humanity from mass consumerism and the devastation the market society has inflicted on our planet. This is the hope I hold onto. Art can shift perspectives and inspire change, and I will continue to use it as a tool for activism to protect our oceans. Final work Mermaid Bta Mermaid Bra - Details Mermaid Beaded Bra Research and process Mermaid Bta Mermaid Bta Share this project My practice delves into a rich tapestry of ideas, focusing on environmental resistance and the vibrant forms of youth culture. This interdisciplinary journey involves performance, drawing, and craft forms such as felting, beading and embroidery. It is a profoundly personal exp... A link to this page has been added to your clipboard Browse related work Activism Climate Emergency Materiality Nature & Environment Social Justice Craft & Process Identity Community Aesthetics
# Links ## Official page - https://ualshowcase.arts.ac.uk/project/637194/cover ## External - https://www.instagram.com/milli3sart - tel:07587155660 - mailto:milliepotton@gmail.com - https://forms.arts.ac.uk/client-enquiry-form/ - https://portfolio-tools.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/02181911/Group-PDF-Export-2.pdf - https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F637194%2Fcover&text=We+Are+All+One - https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F637194%2Fcover&media=https%3A%2F%2Fportfolio-tools.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F06%2F02135343%2FUntitled_Artwork.jpeg&description=We+Are+All+One