Repetition, noun.

: the act or an instance of repeating or being repeated. (Merriam-Webster, 2020)

Repetition is everywhere, it’s basically how the world is created, and how it keeps evolving. Repeating one thing till it becomes something else. Creators do the same thing, trying to mimic the world by creating through repetition and research.  We do this with a hope of not being repetitive in a way that doesn’t push further to new things, new discoveries. But we have to repeat. We repeat to learn to speak, walk, ride our bikes and to keep our head above water when swimming.  “Repetition is a rhythm in music and a fundamental principle in art, and it is an aesthetic and poetic device.” - Widewalls on Repetition In Art. (Widewalls, 2019)

This repetition is very obvious and that’s the point.

Like meditation, sitting down, listening to the main repetition that keeps your heart beating. Breathing. Air in, air out. An act that keeps the mind and body sane. Especially when our valued repetitions in life have changed, for example during a lockdown in a worldwide pandemic. The routines/repetitions can be what keeps us going. So, looking inward, figuring out what matters, and what is constant in the world, is soothing and inspiring and what keeps me going through this time now.

Repetition is when I am searching and re(-)searching, looking through things that inspire me. It is the constant in everything I do, when I write, knit, draw, sew, create.

No matter how I start my work, there will be some kind of repetition to find in it. When searching for a mood, a world or a universe to work within or take inspiration from. From choosing photos to drawing shapes, colors and assembling it all. It is one big repetition of movements and choices.

In theatre and performance repetition is a main part of the creation, from read throughs to fittings to rehearsals. We use it to learn and to develop and become better and stronger in what we do.

Repetition is in the works of the artists and creators I turn to for inspiration.

In the poem by Zoe Leonard (Leonard) “I Want a President” from 1992.

” I want a dyke for president. I want a person with AIDS for president and I want a fag for vice president and I want someone with no health insurance and I want someone who grew up in a place where the earth is so saturated with toxic waste that they didn’t have a choice about getting leukemia.” (Leonard, 1992)

Leonard is repeating the sentence “I want…” which gives the text momentum, and which seems to embolden Leonard, in turn emphasizing the kind of president she wants. It is powerful both in the spoken rhythm of the poem and in the written visual the poem makes, and it is very commonly used in literature and poetry.

I have chosen to be inspired.

Repetition is a strong visual statement when Henrik Vibskov works with fashion, art and costumes. In his garments he uses print and knit to make repetitive patterns that please the eye, and the same with his costumes. He also uses different techniques to fixate or manipulate materials to make the repeated patterns. In his artworks he often makes several of the same objects and put them together to create a response, especially in his catwalk shows. Vibskovs creations show a way to bridge the gap between costume and fashion, that I highly appreciate.

Repetition is the way Rachel Burke, an Australian based artist, expresses herself through millions of pompoms and through the tinsel she use to create amazing jackets and dresses from. (Burke, Rachel) She uses her online world to get people to join her in the universe she’s created, to open up to a simpler and less judging way of creating. I often go to Burkes site when I am stuck in my workflow and need inspiration to just get going. Diving into her universe gives me a feeling of butterflies, lollipops and candy canes, a cuteness overload that can make everything better and lift the spirit. A way for me to get out of my head and into a world where every way of working is the right way.

Repetition is music; some of the world’s oldest manmade repetition. In the album, An Awesome Wave by AltJ the word ‘Tesselate’ was introduced to me.

“Triangles are my favorite shape
Three points where two lines meet
Toe to toe, back to back, let’s go
My love, it’s very late
‘Til morning comes
Let’s tesselate…” (Alt J, 2009)

When I first heard it, I held on to the word ‘tessellate’, I found out what it meant and started drawing, and sewing and using this technique in my work. It has made me discover new 3D shapes for the body and become more aware of how to use the space around the body.

Repetition is on each and every piece ever made by Yayoi Kusama. In the diverse field of her creations there is one constant, the dot. (Widewalls, 2016) It covers everything she makes; it is both a meditative and an obsessive way of working. It is so extensive that it becomes incredibly inspiring, in the determination one needs to make pieces like hers. It makes me want to return to the simplest of tasks and repeat, repeat, repeat, to get to the bigger picture.

Repetition is gender, gender is repetition.

“Gender is constructed through a ‘stylized repetition of acts’” (Butler, 1990, p. 140)

When writing about repetition in my work, I can’t leave out the basic everyday repetition we all live within: The repetition of our gender performance. This is something that influences my work immensely both as a costume and fashion design student and as a genderfluid person.

I work with bodies, identities and people, and I study how to raise awareness of the performativity of gender and how it affects our view of people. A great example of this is found in the work of drag artists, a performance art that draws on repeating enhanced and caricatured gender stereotypes. By doing this drag becomes a social commentary.

Repetition is everywhere, and I find this soothing.

It is where I find my creativity and develop my ideas. If I am stuck on one idea that doesn’t seem to go anywhere, I’ve often turned to zooming in and repeating a smaller part, to see if I can get something out of it. Often this works very well, but sometimes, like anything, it fails. If this is the case, I pick a new thing to focus on, or I’ll have already gotten to another point that I can work from, and problem solved. For now.

Repetition solves problems. And creates them.