About the book

Clothes for Living and Dying brings together two related photographic projects, exploring the relationship of clothing to social and cultural constructions of identity.

Graduation Dresses is an ongoing project consisting of a series of photographs Kern takes of young women who have recently graduated from secondary schools in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their dresses, made by the artist’s mother, are based on images found on the internet and in fashion magazines of celebrities wearing haute couture.