ZiG Moth
ZiG Moth works at the intersection of painting, fiber, and fashion. Using acrylic paint alongside handmade lace, embroidery, quilting, beadwork, and garments, the artist develops work that addresses social and political concerns through material processes closely connected to a background in fashion design.
A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, ZiG Moth earned an AAS in illustration and fashion design and a BFA in fashion design. That education established a lasting interest in fabric and fiber, not only as visual elements but as materials with their own histories, techniques, and expressive possibilities.
Although acrylic paint remains central to the practice, fiber is consistently present in changing forms. A work may incorporate lace, embroidery, quilting, or a handmade garment. ZiG Moth is particularly interested in learning new fiber techniques and adapting them to visual art, allowing the material vocabulary to expand over time.
Fashion remains important even outside the fashion industry. Incorporating clothing and textile processes allows ZiG Moth to maintain a connection to that field while working within a fine-art context. The use of fashion elements is not decorative. It provides a way to bring the construction, labor, and visual language of garments into paintings and mixed-media work.
The process develops through accumulation. ZiG Moth is continually gathering visual and conceptual references, then considering how seemingly unrelated sources might work together. Cemetery statues, illuminated manuscripts, and current pressures on education are among the kinds of material that may remain in view until a work’s direction becomes clear.
This approach gives each piece a layered starting point. Rather than beginning from one image or a predetermined composition, ZiG Moth builds from separate observations, concerns, and historical references until they form a coherent structure.
The work addresses social and political issues directly. Previous subjects have included anxiety, the education system, reproductive rights, and queer rights. Within that framework, the integration of fiber and fashion supports a practice that is materially detailed while remaining focused on contemporary questions.
ZiG Moth’s work demonstrates how fashion-based methods can operate beyond the garment itself. Paint, thread, lace, and constructed forms become part of a broader visual language through which personal experience and public issues can be addressed together.
