FAST FASHION : "TOXIC CLOTHING"

Fast Fashion: "Toxic Clothing" is an installation about pollution caused by fast fashion. The videos are projected on the cloths and the flower, and the audience in the dark space can see the processes that show on the cloths and the flower clearly. Projection mapping is used to produce this work.

 

When the audiences enter the dark space, they can see the green flower and opening flowers are projected on the cloths and the flower, then the water, leaves, and clean river, and it’s the first part of the videos. Green represents nature and a good environment, so green flower means all the healthy plants, and the cloths at the bottom are the soil of the flower, opening flowers, leaves and clean water can all represent the healthy nature and soil, and the healthy soil can produce healthy plants.  Then the second part comes, fast fashion brands appear and the flower turns to red, red represents danger, and it shows like a caution light, the audiences can feel something is in danger when they see the red flower, then they will see some pictures about the sale and hag tag with cheap price, and lots of clothes, so this part means because of these fast fashion clothes, and these clothes threaten the soil of the plants, so the plants are in danger. Then the last part, the green flower shows again, but its petals disappear one by one soon because the water has been polluted, water becomes dirty and has insoluble mass, the last video of this part is the dead plants, so this part means because of the polluted water, the soil is also polluted, the flower dies.

 

I don’t have background music for this project, I want to keep it quiet because I think the frames of the videos has stronger effects than background music, the cheap price and sale pictures can show the audiences directly that these fast fashion clothes purse the cheap price and ask people to buy more, and more clothes they buy, then more clothes they will discard, because the factories will not use the good quality’s fabrics to make the clothes, and these materials are insoluble, so the environment will get worse, and I want the audiences to understand the relationship between the videos and the cotton clothes after they watch the whole process. If I have background music, the audience may attack by the music first, then they see the frames, the emphasis will be different for different people, and it’s hard to know what is the important part for them, so I want the audiences all to focus on the frames of the videos.  

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Because of the tempo of modern life is become fast and fast, many people buy choose to buy the clothes that are in fashion, but most of the people don’t have that much money to buy luxury brand’s clothes, so they choose fast fashion brands, they are cheaper and always have discount, so different ages of people can all accept them, also we can always see the advertisements of these fast fashion brands on the social media, and some people will post what celebrities wear, they also wear fast fashion brands’ clothes, and all of these cause the demand for clothes is increasing, however, not many people will look at the clothes labels, polyester is “the most widely used manufactured fiber, is made from petroleum.”(Waste Couture:A449) 1. “Volatile monomers, solvents, and other by-products of polyester production are emitted in the wastewater from polyester manufacturing plants…Cotton, one of the most popular and versatile fabrics used in clothing manufacture, also has a significant environmental footprint… conventionally grown cotton, one of the most popular clothing fabrics, is also one of the most water- and pesticide-dependent crops. At the factory stage, effluent may contain a number of toxics” (Waste Couture: A450)1. This actual information is clear to see that these fabrics that make fast fashion clothes are actually destroying the environment, and the first thing they pollute is the water.

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The artist who influences my work is Zi Xi Tan, she is a Singaporean artist, she made an immersive installation called ‘Plastic Ocean’, it is about water pollution caused by plastic products and individual wastes. The plastic products are all hanging from the ceiling, and also, she used the blue lights, so when people walk into space, they can feel that if they are the fishes in the sea, this is what the fishes can see in the ocean. “I wanted to recreate a physical manifestation of the Pacific Garbage Patch, where children and adults could experience being immersed in a space covered with trash, simulating the environment of the ‘plastic pool,” says Xi (Wilson, J Laurie)2. Plastic product is one of the main parts of her installation, and in my work, clothes are the main part, instead of using the professional projection screen, I choose to use my own 100% cotton clothes, and these clothes are recyclable and will not pollute the water. Fast Fashion: ‘Toxic clothing’ gives the audiences a space to see the process of why fast fashion pollutes the water sources, and through the flower and cloths at the bottom, they can also see the process of how the flower fades.

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References:

1 Claudio, Luz. “Waste Couture: Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry.” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 115, no. 9, 2007, pp. A448–A454. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4626880.

2 Wilson, J Laurie. “Immersive Installations: The art of shifting our environmental consciousness.” Blue Ocean Network. https://blueocean.net/immersive-installations-the-art-of-shifting-our-environmental-consciousness/

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"快时尚：有毒的服装" 是一个关于快时尚造成污染的装置艺术作品。视频被投影在布料和花上，黑暗空间中的观众可以清晰地看到这些过程。这个作品使用了投影映射技术制作。

 

当观众进入黑暗的空间时，他们可以看到投影在布料和花上的绿色花和盛开的花，然后是水、叶子和干净的河流，这是视频的第一部分。绿色代表自然和良好的环境，因此绿色花代表所有健康的植物，而底部的布料则是花的土壤，盛开的花、叶子和清洁的水都可以代表健康的自然和土壤，而健康的土壤能够生产健康的植物。然后是第二部分，快时尚品牌出现，花变成了红色，红色代表危险，就像警示灯一样，观众看到红色花时会感到危险，然后他们会看到一些销售和标价便宜的标签图片，以及大量的衣服，这部分意味着由于这些快时尚衣服，这些衣服威胁到植物的土壤，所以植物处于危险之中。然后是最后一部分，绿色花再次出现，但花瓣很快就会逐个消失，因为水已被污染，水变脏，有不溶解的物质。最后一个视频是死亡的植物，所以这部分的意思是由于受到污染的水，土壤也被污染了，花死了。

 

这个项目我没有背景音乐，我想保持安静，因为我觉得视频的画面比背景音乐的效果更强，便宜的价格和销售图片可以直接向观众展示这些快时尚服装的钱包，便宜的价格要求人们多买，买的衣服多了，就会扔掉更多的衣服，因为工厂不会用质量好的布料做衣服，这些材料是不溶的，所以环境会变差， 我想让观众在看完整个过程后，了解视频和棉衣之间的关系。 如果我有背景音乐，观众可能会先被音乐攻击，然后他们看到框架，每个人的重点都会不同，很难知道什么是重要的部分，所以我希望观众都专注于视频的帧。

 

由于现代人的生活节奏越来越快，很多人在购买的时候会选择购买时尚的衣服，但是大多数人没有那么多钱去买奢侈品牌的衣服，所以他们会选择快时尚品牌 , 比较便宜，而且一直有折扣，所以不同年龄段的人都能接受，而且我们在社交媒体上总能看到这些快时尚品牌的广告，有些人会发明星穿什么，他们也穿快时尚 品牌的衣服，所有这些都导致对衣服的需求越来越大，然而，很少有人会看衣服标签，涤纶是“使用最广泛的制造纤维，是由石油制成的。”（Waste Couture：A449） 1。 总足迹……传统种植的棉花是最受欢迎的服装面料之一，也是最依赖水和杀虫剂的作物之一。 在工厂阶段，污水可能含有多种有毒物质”（Waste Couture：A450）1。 这个实际信息一目了然，这些做快时尚衣服的面料其实是在破坏环境，首先污染的就是水。

 

影响我作品的艺术家是谭子熙，她是新加坡艺术家，她做了一个沉浸式装置，叫做“塑料海洋”，是关于塑料制品和个人废弃物造成的水污染。 塑料制品全部挂在天花板上，而且，她用的是蓝色的灯光，让人走进太空的时候，会觉得如果自己是海里的鱼，这就是鱼在海里看到的。 “我想重现太平洋垃圾带的物理表现形式，儿童和成人可以体验沉浸在充满垃圾的空间中，模拟‘塑料池’的环境，”Xi（Wilson，J Laurie）2 说道。 塑料制品是她装置的主要部分之一，而在我的作品中，衣服是主要部分，我没有使用专业的投影屏幕，而是选择使用我自己的 100% 纯棉衣服，这些衣服是可回收的，不会 污染水。 快时尚：《毒衣》给观众一个空间，让观众看到快时尚污染水源的过程，通过底部的花朵和布料，还可以看到花朵凋谢的过程。