THERAPY at Vestir Mundos exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires.
Vestir Mundos (Dressing Workds). Clothing, Identity, Grief, and the Possibility of Transformation
What if the clothes we wear could tell the stories we cannot always put into words? Some experiences move us beyond words. They touch something deeper than professional achievement: a sense of belonging, recognition, gratitude, and the realization that our work is part of a much larger conversation.
Being part of VESTIR MUNDOS (Dressing Worlds) at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires has been one of those experiences for us at Therapy Recycle & Exorcise.
The exhibition, created primarily from the archive of Fundación IDA — Investigación en Diseño Argentino — brings together Argentine designers who have reimagined clothing in response to social, cultural, and environmental challenges. Curated by Franco Chimento and Raúl Flores, it explores fashion as a practice that can transform the spaces we inhabit, preserve collective memory, question established systems, and imagine alternative futures.
For us, being included in this exhibition is an immense honor. Sharing this space with designers whose work has inspired us throughout our journey makes the experience even more meaningful.
But beyond the emotion and pride, VESTIR MUNDOS invites us to reflect on something fundamental to our practice: the relationship between clothing, identity, emotional experience, and our capacity to transform what we have inherited.
Explore the exhibition on the official Museo Moderno website.
VESTIR MUNDOS: Clothing Is Never Just Clothing
We often think about clothing in terms of aesthetics, trends, functionality, or personal style. Yet garments can carry meanings that extend far beyond their material form.
A piece of clothing might hold the memory of a loved one, represent a particular stage of life, express a cultural identity, or help someone navigate a personal transition. A garment inherited from a family member can become a tangible connection to the past. Something we choose to wear can help us explore who we are becoming.
Clothing exists at the intersection of the private and the public. It is intimately connected to our bodies, yet it also shapes how we present ourselves and relate to others.
Sometimes, what we wear allows us to express something that we have not yet found the words to articulate. Sometimes, it offers a sense of protection, recognition, or freedom. And sometimes, changing what we wear becomes part of changing how we see ourselves.
This does not mean that clothing has the same meaning for everyone. Its significance depends on our individual histories, relationships, cultures, and circumstances.
What VESTIR MUNDOS makes visible is the richness of these relationships: clothing as a form of expression, a record of lived experience, and a way of engaging with the world.
Transformation: Giving New Meaning to What Already Exists
At Therapy Recycle & Exorcise, transformation is central to our work.
We recover discarded textiles and unused garments and transform them into new pieces that challenge conventional ideas about fashion, gender, seasons, and consumption. Our practice connects upcycling with urban subcultures, personal identity researches and transnational realities, creating clothing that moves beyond traditional categories and questions the systems that determine what is considered valuable or disposable.
The exhibition places this approach within a broader context of Argentine design. As its curatorial text explains, upcycling allows existing materials to retain elements of their original identity while acquiring new meaning and an extended life.
This idea resonates beyond the material process.
In our lives, we also carry experiences, memories, inherited expectations, and stories that shape who we are. Some remain meaningful; others may need to be reconsidered. Some experiences cannot be undone, but our relationship with them can change.
Transformation does not require erasing what came before. It can involve acknowledging the past, working with what remains, and discovering possibilities that were not previously visible.
In this sense, reuse becomes more than a production technique. It offers a powerful metaphor for reimagining value, recognizing potential, and creating something different without denying the history of the material.
We do not suggest that emotional healing and textile upcycling are the same process. Rather, both invite us to question the assumption that something becomes worthless simply because it has been used, damaged, overlooked, or discarded.
Grief, Memory, and the Things We Carry
One of the most moving aspects of the exhibition is its exploration of clothing in relation to grief and loss.
The Museo Moderno highlights the work of designer Vero Ivaldi and her collection Bitácora del duelo (Grief Logbook, 2021), which transforms garments into expressions of mourning following the death of Ricky Rúa, her partner and a member of the band Los Brujos.
Through alterations, removed sections, broken-heart imagery, and messages addressed to him, the garments become intimate records of absence, memory, and the attempt to give form to pain that may be difficult to express in words.
This work offers a compelling reminder that material objects can become closely connected to our emotional lives.
A garment can hold a memory. A texture can evoke a person. An object can preserve a connection long after circumstances have changed.
Grief is a deeply personal experience, and there is no single way to move through it. For some people, keeping meaningful objects can offer comfort; for others, changing or letting go of them may become part of their process. Neither response has to follow a prescribed timeline.
What matters is the possibility of finding a way to relate to loss that feels meaningful to the person experiencing it.
In a different way, the work of Juliana García Bello, also featured in the exhibition, connects the repair and reconstruction of inherited or discarded garments with domestic knowledge, personal affection, and family memories.
These examples reveal how clothing can serve as a material link between past and present. The garment is not simply an object: it can become a place where stories, relationships, and memories remain tangible.
For us, this is one of the most powerful dimensions of design: its ability to make visible the emotional and relational meanings that often remain hidden within everyday objects.
Sustainability Is Also About Relationships
The environmental dimension of VESTIR MUNDOS extends beyond the reuse of materials. The exhibition questions accelerated consumption, the displacement of production, and the growing distance between the clothes we wear and the people who make them.
It also highlights alternative ways of producing through artisanal communities, traditional crafts, cooperatives, natural materials, and experimentation with biomaterials.
These practices encourage us to reconsider the systems behind the things we consume.
Where does a garment come from? Who made it? What knowledge, time, and resources went into its production? What happens when we decide we no longer want it?
These questions connect environmental responsibility with human relationships, cultural heritage, and collective responsibility.
At Therapy Recycle & Exorcise, working with discarded textiles is one way we challenge the logic of constant replacement. We seek to extend the life of materials and create garments that question the idea that fashion must always move toward something new.
For us, sustainability is not only about reducing waste. It is also about changing our relationship with value: learning to recognize the possibilities in what already exists and becoming more conscious of the consequences of our choices.
This perspective invites a broader understanding of care — for materials, for the people involved in production, for the communities that preserve knowledge, and for the environment we share.
The Importance of Being Seen and Celebrating Connection
Being invited to participate in VESTIR MUNDOS has been an emotional experience for us, not only because of the exhibition itself, but also because of the people who made it possible.
We are deeply grateful to Franco Chimento, Raúl Flores, and the entire Museo Moderno team, as well as Fundación IDA, for the warmth, respect, and generosity with which they welcomed us.
Sharing this experience with designers who have inspired us throughout our journey — including 12NA and Juliana García Bello — makes it even more special.
Creative work can sometimes feel solitary. It involves experimentation, uncertainty, persistence, and the effort of bringing ideas into the world. Moments of recognition remind us that this work exists within a wider network of relationships and shared histories.
Connection is not simply about being surrounded by others. It is also about finding spaces where our work, experiences, and perspectives are acknowledged.
These moments can strengthen our sense of belonging and remind us that the things we create may resonate with people in ways we could not have anticipated.
As we reflected during the opening, the experience felt surreal. Sometimes, an opportunity becomes meaningful precisely because it brings together so many things that have shaped our journey: the work, the people, the challenges, and the values we continue to explore.
We are proud and grateful to be part of this conversation.
Dressing Worlds, Imagining Futures
VESTIR MUNDOS celebrates Argentine design while inviting us to think about much more than fashion.
It asks us to consider how clothing shapes our relationship with our bodies, how garments carry memories, how production systems affect communities, and how the objects we choose to keep or discard reflect our values.
The worlds we inhabit are shaped by what we make, what we preserve, what we transform, and how we relate to one another.
We feel deeply honored to be part of VESTIR MUNDOS and to share this space with so many people whose work we admire.
Thanks to Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Fundación IDA, Franco Chimento, Raúl Flores, and everyone who made this experience possible.
With gratitude,
Mariángeles and Paula Aguirre, THERAPY Recycle and Exorcise
Discover the exhibition: VESTIR MUNDOS — Museo Moderno, Buenos Aires
Images by Josefina Tommasi
