Back to square one:
when our fashion waste comes back to us
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Research and Data Visualization
NOVEMBER 2023
What if the textile remnants from Accra, a city in Ghana where the West dumps 15 million used or even unused garments every week, were deposited in our squares and streets?
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The answer is embodied in this work: in New York, it would consume the entirety of Washington Square; in Paris, it would occupy a substantial portion of the Champs-Élysées; and in Milan, it would completely cover Piazza Duomo. And it's no coincidence that these cities are the world's three fashion capitals.
The artwork serves as a strong and provocative reminder of the textile waste issue, also reflecting on the toxic power dynamics between countries that produce the waste and those having to deal with it
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In this installation, city maps of New York, Paris, and Milan are printed on three canvases made from recycled cotton. On these canvases, three different patchworks of fabric scraps are applied to illustrate the surface area that would be occupied by textile waste if packed into bales of 200 garments each, each measuring 70x50cm.
This physical part of the installation is combined with an AI-generated video that portrays dystopian and catastrophic scenarios that would unfold in such circumstances.
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The artwork was exhibited at the Info+ 2023 in the Inspace venue in Edinburgh.
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