The Francis Robe project explores the process of merging texture, symbol and narrative. It is inspired by the worn and patched habit of St. Francis which remains available to the public in the crypt of the great basilica in Assisi.

The garment construction process was accomplished through collage, using diverse plants as paper making fibres in combination with recycled materials. A selection of area maps are incorporated with calligraphies of Francis's most known quotes including 'Canticle to the Sun'.

More than the physicality of the garment as object with its historical implications, it comes to represent atemporal events. The intention of this work is to introduce the enduring legacy of St.Francis's spiritual accomplishments to secular culture. The project's premise being various items of clothing evoke particular psychological experiences. In many cultural situations garments are layered with symbolism that invokes the transpersonal and celebrate inner transformation.

The physicality of the material world is felt as an experience within our own physicality. The work endeavours to make visible what is normally invisible as it elicits an awareness of what is Francis's robe here, now and who is Francis, the Saint of ecology in the 21st century.

We are not meant to have an intellectual connection, we are meant to have a visceral one.