The Dressing Room: Behind the curtain of artist Sarah Jayne Kavali’s monumental new work for Breast Cancer Cure

What if a dressing room was no longer a private space, but a three-storey structure almost 24 metres long and five metres high?

That is the vision behind The Dressing Room, an immersive installation by New Zealand artist Sarah Jayne Kavali, opening today as part of Breast Cancer Cure’s latest Tees for a Cure campaign, which raises vital funds for breast cancer research.

On at the New Zealand International Convention Centre in Auckland from 1–5 October, the experience brings together 26 local fashion designers, including Karen Walker, Zambesi and Kathryn Wilson, alongside a special guest design by Breast Cancer Cure Ambassador Jaquie Brown. It comprises 26 individually curated rooms, with close to a kilometre of fabric and hundreds of T-shirts woven throughout its façade and interior.

For Kavali, the familiar ritual of getting dressed became the starting point for something much bigger.

“The Dressing Room takes that intimate ritual and makes it monumental. The structure is enormous because the disease we’re confronting is enormous,” she says. “At its heart, it’s about identity, restoration and the power of clothing to help us reconnect with ourselves, wherever we may be in life or in our journey.”

Here, she takes Remix behind the curtain to reveal the vision and deeply personal experiences that shaped The Dressing Room.

When you first began imagining The Dressing Room, what was the initial idea that sparked the project?
Honestly, the first thing I saw was an oversized dressing room. It came to me very quickly and clearly, and I ran with that vision. I wanted to take a space we all recognise as intimate and ordinary, then make it feel huge and almost otherworldly.

The Dressing Room is deliberately monumental — almost 24 metres long and five metres high. How did you translate the original concept into a physical environment of that scale, and what was the most challenging part of bringing it to life?
The scale was there from the beginning; while walking through the space, I could see it. Breast cancer is (or can feel) monumental and overwhelming, so I wanted the installation to have a physical presence you couldn’t simply pass by. The hardest part has been the logistics. There are many people, pieces and moving parts to bring together, and every decision affects another. But that’s simply what it takes to make something of this scale feel whole.

You’re bringing together 26 leading New Zealand fashion designers within one installation. How did you approach creating a world that feels cohesive while still giving each designer’s work room to speak?
The structure holds a shared language. With a striking uniformity to the scaffold, the curtains and the rhythm of the rooms, then, stepping closer, you experience each dressing room becoming its own little world. That balance lets the installation feel like one work while giving each designer a distinct identity.

A dressing room is somewhere we look at ourselves, assess ourselves and decide how we want to be seen. What drew you to that particular space as a way of exploring the experience of breast cancer?
When someone is confronted with breast cancer, I imagine one may have to look at themselves in entirely new ways. Their relationship with their body, their reflection and their sense of self can all change so vastly. The dressing room felt like a beautiful, familiar space in which to explore that experience.

You’ve described the installation as being about “identity, restoration and the power of clothing to help us reconnect with ourselves”. How did those ideas translate into the visual world you created?
Those ideas are present quite literally, with each room having its own identity, shaped by the designer’s work and interpretation. Restoration runs through the build too; almost everything has been found, collected, restored or given a new life. Clothing plays a huge role in this, helping us express who we are, or try on a version of ourselves we haven’t felt able to inhabit for a while. Sometimes the simple act of getting dressed can help us feel a little more like ourselves. I wanted the installation to hold space for all of that.

Three women close to you have experienced breast cancer. How did that personal connection influence the way you approached The Dressing Room?
One of those women was diagnosed only recently and is going through chemotherapy now. I was hearing about what she was experiencing while this project was taking shape, so she was very much in my mind as I created it. I kept coming back to the contrast between harshness and softness. The scaffold is imposing and cold; against it are fabric, clothing and these deeply individual expressions of personality. That contrast felt honest to me. I wanted to honour the difficulty of what these women are living through while still making room for beauty and possibility.

Is there one room, detail or moment in The Dressing Room that feels especially personal to you — something you hope visitors might notice?
It’s hard to choose one. Meeting some of the designers and their families has meant a great deal to me. Once you’ve met someone, creating a space with them in mind becomes much more personal. The COOPER by Trelise Cooper room also speaks to my inner artist. I’ve had such fun making it. I think visitors will find little traces of my connection to the people and the work throughout the installation.

When someone walks out of The Dressing Room, what is the one thing you most want them to carry with them?
Each person will bring their own life into those rooms, and I hope something in the work meets them there. If they leave feeling seen, or carrying a thought they didn’t arrive with, that’s the magic of bringing a creation into the world: it becomes something different for everyone who experiences it.

To book your free visit The Dressing Room, donate, or purchase a t-shirt from the Tees for a Cure collection, visit BREASTCANCERCURE.ORG.NZ