Pierre-Antoine Vettorello works with textile and archives
which serves as a foundation for his artistic narrative.
Inspired by historical events, military technologies, ordinary materials, West African textiles and materials, he crafts installations, sculptures and design prints. As an artist-designer-researcher, he seeks to question how colonial power dynamics influence art and fashion design and how 'designers' mythologies are created and spread. Focussing on Senegalese dress and epistemologies, his research delves into the history of Wolof attire in the French space between 1939 and 1966.
He currently serves as:
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PhD research fellow at University of Antwerp and Sint Lucas School of Arts with his thesis 'Black Yarns'.
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Action researcher over transmission of craftsmanship in Belgium via diasporic networks, FWO fellowship 'Crafting Futures' University of Antwerp
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Teacher of research methodology at the textile department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels
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Postgraduate supervisior at Istituto Marangoni in Paris
He is Afropean, grew up in Bordeaux and works and lives in Brussels. He has an MA from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, fashion department and an MA in Artistic Research from Sint Lucas School of Arts.
Vettorello received the ASVOF Diane Pernet award in 2010 and Arise Award in 2011.
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Latest Work
February 2024
SuperOtium, Artist in Residence, Naples
May 2022
Villa Ndar, Institut Français du Sénégal, Saint-Louis
January - March 2022
Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
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Education
2021-2025
University of Antwerp (ARIA) & KdG Sint Lucas School of Arts, Antwerp
Ph.D. Research Fellow (candidate)
2020
KdG Sint Lucas School of Arts, Antwerp
Advanced Masters in Artistic Research within a Social & Political Context.
2010
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Fashion dpt., Antwerp
Masters & Bachelor in Fashion Design.
2005
ENSAAMA Olivier de Serres, Paris
Certification in Textile Design.
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Teaching
From September 2023 until June 2024
Spring 2021
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels.
Teacher in research methodology, project monitoring at the Executive Masters in Knitting Design program.
(French)
Since January 2022
Istituto Marangoni, Paris.
Teaching master's students (Design Thinking & Neo-Craftmanship) and tutor.
(English)
Since 2015
Oxbridge Academic Programs, Paris.
Teacher of fashion design, history of fashion and fashion criticism to grades 9-12 major and minor programs. Focus on Parisian Fashion.
(English)
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Lectures & Paper Presentations
From September 2021 until fall 2024:
- University of Bayreuth, "Estranged Dolls: Exploring Connections and Disconnections Through Objects. A Study of the Parisian Senegalese Diaspora and the Musée du Quai Branly" in Reconfigurations in Africa and in African Studies, Biannual conference of the Association for African Studies in Germany e.V. (VAD), September-October 2024, Bayreuth, DE (link)
- University of Galway, "Unveiling New Perspectives Through Press Archives, News, Photography, and a Decolonial Lens (lecture), Galway, IE
- Sint Lucas Antwerpen, 'Disrupt! Imagine Fashion in the Post-Museum, the Archive and Beyond' (chair and lecturer), Antwerp, BE
- Universität der Künste, De-Fashioning Education conference (paper presentation), Berlin, DE (link)
- Institut Français de la Mode (IFM), Executive MBA Global Fashion Management (lecture), Paris, FR
- IFM Paris, IFM alumni association (lecture), Faverolles, FR
- Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule University of Art and Design, Master in fashion design (lecture), Halle, DE
- Trinity College Dublin, Text & Techne online symposium (paper presentation), IE (Link)
- LUCA / school of arts, Masters (lecture), Brussels, BE
- Dakar Design Hub, Master Class (workshop), Popenguine, SN
- Sint Lucas School of Arts, Masters (lecture), Antwerpen, BE
- Royal Academy of Fine Arts, fashion dept., 3rd year Bachelor (lecture), Antwerp, BE
- LUCA / school of arts, Master Textile (lecture), Ghent, BE
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Publications
October 2023
On Colonial Violence in the Fashion School (ed.)
Vettorello, P.-A. (Ed.). (2023). On Colonial Violence in the Fashion School, The Yarn Zine #1. Antwerp: Black Yarns Publishings. (link)
March 2023
Decolonial Methods for Artists and Researchers from the Diasporas. Damien Ajavon: Archiving the Invisible
Vettorello, P.-A. (2023). ‘Decolonial Methods for Artists and Researchers from the Diasporas. Damien Ajavon: Archiving the Invisible | Méthodes Décoloniales Pour Artistes et Chercheurs des Diasporas. Damien Ajavon : Archiver L’Invisible’, Decoloniality & Fashion RCDF e-zine, (2), pp. 74-77. (link)
October 2022
The Curation of African Textiles in Belgian Fashion Museums from a Diasporic Viewpoint
Okemwa, N. & Vettorello, P.-A. (2022). The Curation of African Textiles in Belgian Fashion Museums from a Diasporic Viewpoint, TYPP#8 Blind Spot. Antwerp: Yellow Press, pp. I-XVI.
April 2021
A conversation with Diana Bamimeke and Rima Hamid - Black Pride Ireland
Vettorello, P.-A. (2021). A conversation with Diana Bamimeke and Rima Hamid. TYPP Special Issue. Antwerp: Yellow Press, pp. 35-42.