Heyy, I’m
Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee
A lot of my work is DIY because I like the feeling of seeing how something is made. I would rather work with a pattern that can be shared, a print that can be remixed, a tool that someone else can open, or a jacket that has already survived three people before me. I like fashion when it feels alive and changeable, not sealed off.
I think my DIY thing probably started with ruining clothes before I knew how to fix them.
Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee
Photographer · Creative Coder · Video Artist
At one point I cut up a vintage dress because I thought I could make it better. I could not. It became a top, then a bag, then some very strange sleeves, then eventually part of a scan folder. That is still basically how I work: I take something that already has a life, try to understand it, break it a little, photograph it, code around it, and sometimes turn it into something useful.
I work between photography, creative programming, video and fashion, mostly with second-hand clothes, open source prints, public domain images, home-made tools and whatever strange material ends up on my desk. I like clothes that have been repaired, badly photographed objects, old sewing books, screenshots, labels, family pictures, archive images, fabric scraps and digital files with terrible names like final_final_reallythisone.png.
Over the last few years
I have worked among some wildly talented artists, designers, coders, photographers and video people. Some of the best things I have learned came from being in small studios, temporary workspaces, late-night edits, borrowed projectors, shared drives, chaotic fittings, and rooms where everyone knows how to do at least one thing you cannot do.
CONNECT ON LINKEDINI am using the machines more now too. AI tools, open source models, code libraries, browser experiments, image generators, video tools, pattern systems. I do not really see them as magic. They are more like strange collaborators with bad taste unless you give them a very specific job. I use them to test prints, make visual references, build little tools, remix archive material, storyboard, clean up workflows and sometimes find an accident I would not have made on my own.
The part I care about is still the same: taking old or overlooked material and giving it somewhere new to go. A dress, a scan, a family photo, a clip, a pattern, a piece of code. I like when those things meet and make a small mess. That is usually where the good work starts.
The part I care about is still the same: taking old or overlooked material and giving it somewhere new to go. A dress, a scan, a family photo, a clip, a pattern, a piece of code. I like when those things meet and make a small mess. That is usually where the good work starts.
Gallery
