“It’s just a t-shirt…said 66 million people.”
– CHRIS CAREY COLLECTIONS, LONDON, UK (2022)
waste mountain, 2023
featuring 70+ lbs of secondhand clothing to reveal systems of waste colonisation.
IN 2019, EU CLOTHING EXPORTS TOTALLED 1.3 MILLION TONNES AND ARE EXPECTED TO RISE (EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, 2022). WITH RAPIDLY INCREASING PRODUCTION OF FASHION WITH A DECREASING QUALITY, GLOBAL SECONDHAND CLOTHING MARKETS STRUGGLE TO MANAGE SUPPLY – RESULTING IN MASSIVE LANDFILLS, POLLUTION AND BURDENED COMMUNITIES IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH (OR FOUNDATION, 2023). BY EXAMINING EUROPEAN TEXTILE WASTE AND ITS EMBEDDED LIVES AND AGENCY, THIS PIECE SEEKS TO INVESTIGATE WASTE COLONIALISM AT INTIMATE AND SYSTEMIC SCALES.
AS A MOUNTAIN OF GREED, EXPLOITATION AND ANTHROPOCENTRISM, THIS COSTUME REPRESENTS THE HUMAN MYTH THAT WE’RE SEPARATE FROM NATURE – A NOTION THAT UNDERPINS THE CREATION OF WASTE AND ITS DENIAL.
MATERIALS | SECONDHAND CLOTHING, CANE, COTTON TAPE, HAIR ACCESSORIES, ELASTIC CORD, TOGGLES AND (NOT VISIBLE) SECONDHAND WETSUIT, POLYPROPYLENE WEBBING, VELCRO, AND BUCKLE.
LOCATION | LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
CONCEPT, DESIGN AND REALISATION | JESSIE CURRY
PHOTOGRAPHY | LUOXIAO CHUANG
PERFORMER | ABIGAIL HOPE
CLOTHING DONATION | CHRIS CAREY COLLECTIONS
AWARDS: 2023 FINALIST, WORLD OF WEARABLE ART (WOW) COMPETITION, NEW ZEALAND
WASTE MOUNTAIN, 2023 –
A STOP ANIMATION FOR MA COSTUME DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE AT LONDON COLLEGE OF FASHION, UNIVERSITY OF ARTS LONDON (LCF, UAL)
PROJECT BACKGROUND: THIS TRANSFORMATIVE COSTUME WAS DESIGNED FOR A WASTE-FOCUSED INTERPRETATION OF THE OPERA RUSALKA, A CZECH LIBRETO WRITTEN BY ANTONIO DVORAK IN 1900. DESPITE ITS AGE, ITS NARRATIVE OF HUMANS TORN FROM THE ROOTS OF THE EARTH STILL STANDS. MY FICTITIOUS RENDITION OF RUSALKA, AND THE PRINCE IN WHICH THIS COSTUME REPRESENTS, IS AN ALLEGORY OF OUR ECOLOGICAL AND COLONIAL WASTE CRISIS.
DIRECTION AND STOP ANIMATION EDITING: JESSIE CURRY
CAMERA AND LIGHTING: AGNES TREPLIN
PERFORMER: CHRISTOPHER GERHARDT
MOVEMENT: PETA LILY