"Everything I’m wearing is a gift from somebody else and that’s increasingly the way my wardrobe is coming together.

I live in New Zealand but I’m from Ireland and my mother sends me a lot of clothes. The ladies in the administration office will attest to that..! It’s become this dialogue between us. It gives her a lot of joy and it also gives me a lot of joy to have this garment that makes me think of her, that is, I’m wearing and I’m connected to and I don’t know maybe replaces that physical touch that I can’t hug her, I can’t –a s much as technology allows me to connect with her, I can’t be beside her... She loves shopping for me and thinking about what will bring me joy.

Sometimes she buys duplicates of the garments so she has one and I have one as well. I know it sounds really cheesy. When she came over to visit we ended up in the same garment a lot of the time. So we’d have the same coat on at the same time. We went whale watching in Kaikoura and we both had the same coat and I think there was a time when, gosh, any kind of similar appearance to my mum – like as a teenager you know you want to slightly distance yourself and create your own identity. But it’s this weird maturing place I’m in where I actually quite enjoy it.

My dad was teasing us that we’re like sisters now. It’s kind of a nice place to be, simultaneously daughter, sister, friend. It looks different [on each of us]. We’ve got quite different physiques. She’s about my height. I’m an inch taller - she doesn’t like that. But she wouldn’t be as busty as I am and I’ve got curly hair, she’s got straight blond hair. And she’s quite slim. I’m a little bit more curvy. So it does take on different characteristics.

And it’s kind of funny because I think it’s like our tastes have merged and it’s like her style and my style have kind of evolved and come together. And sometimes she sees things in a different way. Like I may not have bought this dress for myself. But it’s quite interesting, I like aspects of it… it mightn’t be the version of myself that I recognize but I appreciate that she sees me in another way. I do feel [a sense of relief from not having to make a decision of what to wear] to a certain extent. I do feel a sense of guilt that I have more stuff and I probably have enough. I definitely have enough. It’s a mixed feeling.

They kind of take me to somewhere I wouldn’t have necessarily thought of. So like for me, I’m curious about everything and want to know as much as I can about different things so it shows me a different perspective and takes me on a different path or a different journey and I think people’s appearance or their attitude to life is an evolving state so it’s a reminder that I can’t dictate everything, I can’t plan everything and sometimes being open to different perspectives is good and can take you somewhere else."