How Sandra Poulson wove Angolan history into her collection

“I see the body as a political place that acts as a canvas for my designs.”

For Sandra Poulson, who recently graduated from the BA Fashion course at London’s Central Saint Martins, her work is all about the body. The clothes are merely a tool to shape a message. “Fashion itself is another way of speaking… it isn’t only an end goal.” She tells us how her creations aren’t driven by aesthetics and that they can take on any medium that speaks to her in that moment, from film making to performance to woodwork. “I see the body as a political place that acts as a canvas for my designs,” she adds.

An Angolan Archive, Poulson’s graduate collection, features pieces from a multitude of media, although often reverts back to the body. This, like most of her past collections, is highly political and centres on her native Angola. “It’s about how the micropolitical moments reverberate into macropolitics.” It is also a conversation about colonization and the need for history to be rewritten by those who lived it, and not colonial powers. “I want all people to acknowledge the urgency of decoloniality and not just those who are affected by it.”

Poulson’s design process is largely research-based. “My work almost starts as an ethnographic study,” she says. It is not uncommon for Poulson to go over the time allotted for research, much to her tutor’s exasperation, but it is an integral part of her process. She also won’t use a mannequin throughout the process and so relies on regular fittings with patient friends as often as possible. “I can’t speak to the mannequin and it doesn’t move in the awkward way that the body does and I’m interested in that.”

The collection was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, something that ended up playing a central role in her collection. Forced out of university, Poulson spent much of March, “crying like a baby,” and regrouping at home. With no space in her flat to produce designs, she ended up occupying the roof of a flat next door for, as Poulson describes it, an unauthorised self-led eight-week residency of sorts. “In January I had no idea that the course of work would change so much, but the integrity of the collection is the exact same and the intentions of the work only got enhanced by being on the roof.”

“It is a very challenging time; everything is changing, from the way people learn to how they interact with materials.”

Poulson found that she spent lots of time online while creating the collection and turned to Instagram to showcase her collection while physical shows weren’t allowed. She used it as a diary, updating her followers with every unexpected event that would happen while she worked on the roof. She also hoped it would serve as a distraction for people during the lockdown.

Now that she has graduated, Poulson has been able to reflect on her experience studying at CSM. She describes how her time there was defined by constantly being off-brief. “I never really thought too much about what I was expected to do, but just about being committed to my intentions as a practitioner and as an artist,” she explains. This is an approach she would advise new student designers to also take. She acknowledges all the difficult changes that have come this year, and how they will affect graduate classes for many years to come. “It is a very challenging time; everything is changing, from the way people learn to how they interact with materials.”

“I ask the teachers and new students to keep making their creations relevant to the world we live in. As a medium, fashion should be utilised to continue starting the conversations that need to be discussed,”

Poulson is adamant that these changes don’t have to be a bad thing as this experience forced her to adapt and progress as an artist. Her biggest hope, however, is that it will offer students a new perspective on what is important. “I ask the teachers and new students to keep making their creations relevant to the world we live in. As a medium, fashion should be utilised to continue starting the conversations that need to be discussed,” she says.

In a more general sense, she hopes to see major change within the industry and believes this will only occur with increased regulations. From employment to production to waste, there are flaws throughout the system. “There is so much potential for consumers to purchase products that are meaningful and will last,” she says. This will only be possible, Poulson believes if people are made aware of who has made their products, where, and how much they were paid.

The future looks busy for Poulson, who has recently started moving into her own studio. She also explains how she is already creating pieces for a number of shows next year. One of which is in France, alongside a previous collaborator, the Angolan artist Raul Jorge Gourgel. She will also be spending the year working for herself, perfecting her craft at her own pace. “I wanted this year to continue developing my skills and to take up opportunities that could help me learn.” After that? Poulson sees herself returning to university to complete an MA. For the fashion practitioner, education is a lifelong investment.