Umoja Art Gallery has concluded Clothed in Care, a solo exhibition by Goodluck Jane, presented from January 12 to January 17, 2025. The week-long exhibition brought together artists, cultural practitioners, guests, collectors, and members of the public to reflect on clothing and textiles as materials shaped by care, memory, and responsibility.
In Clothed in Care, Goodluck Jane explored clothing as something lived with rather than simply worn. Through her work, textiles emerged as quiet witnesses to everyday life holding stories of protection, motherhood, inheritance, ritual, and emotional connection. Her practice positioned cloth as unique , also as a material that carries time, labour, and human intention.
The exhibition focused on hands-on textile processes such as stitching, layering, mending, and reconstruction. These actions drew attention to care as a physical and ongoing practice that requires patience and commitment. By emphasizing process, Jane highlighted the unseen work involved in making and maintaining cloth, connecting it to broader histories of caregiving and domestic labour.
Clothed in Care also raised questions about how clothing is valued today. In contrast to fast fashion and disposability, the exhibition foregrounded reuse, preservation, and emotional attachment to garments. Many visitors reflected on their own relationships with clothing how items are cared for, passed down, or discarded, and what these choices reveal about responsibility and connection.
Beyond individual reflection, the exhibition opened wider conversations about culture and community. Jane’s work linked textile practices to both domestic and communal spaces, showing how clothing connects people across generations. Discussions during the exhibition touched on traditional knowledge, gendered labour, sustainability, and the role of craft in maintaining cultural continuity.
By centering textile labour that is often overlooked or undervalued, Clothed in Care drew attention to the everyday actions that quietly sustain families and communities. This focus resonated strongly with audiences, particularly in relation to motherhood and caregiving as forms of ongoing, embodied care.
Through this solo exhibition, Umoja Art Gallery reaffirmed its commitment to supporting artists whose work is rooted in lived experience and social reflection. Clothed in Care offered visitors a space not only to view art, but to think, feel, and engage in meaningful conversation.
As the exhibition concludes, Clothed in Care stands as a thoughtful contribution to contemporary discussions around textile practice, memory, and responsibility. Through fabric, labour, and quiet gestures of care, Goodluck Jane’s work reminds us that clothing is not just something we wear it is something we live with, remember through, and care for over time.
