What You Don’t See 

For the last few decades, our world has developed into a consumer-based society. Propaganda and advertising are brainwashing consumers into consistently buying more and more. Fashion is the second most polluting industry next to oil. This is due to clothing waste from mass production, microplastics entering the ocean from the washing of synthetic materials, and contamination of the soil from pesticides used to grow cotton. Well known fashion brands turn to manufacturing in impoverished countries to capitalize on garment workers’ cheap labor as they already make unlivable wages. 

What You Don’t See focuses on visually analyzing recycled fabrics and their form. This research and photographic process is my interpretation of the use of textiles within our society and the overarching issues that coincide with consumption, exploitation, and the climate crisis. These works subtly refer to the appreciation for fabrics made by garment workers who have experienced abuse and manipulation from popular fast-fashion brands. The textiles are photographed in an abstract way to investigate their shape, texture, form, color, and detail. I am featuring secondhand purchases or recycled fabrics along with subtle details from my own personal garments. Through this process, I am learning about the issues within the fashion industry and calling attention to the consumer-based brands who are profiting from garment workers. This practice has relieved the eco-anxiety that I experience as someone who loves clothes and conservation of the environment. 

There is an immense problem within the fashion industry. When it comes to clothing production, corporate brands are taking advantage of garment workers while also harming the climate. The complication with this results in a lack of human rights for the people making our clothes and the warming temperatures that our planet is suffering from. With intense research and discussion, I investigated this issue which led me to produce this body of work. By utilizing recycled textiles as subject matter, I executed macro images of the fabrics to heighten their detail. The fabrics presented were all on their way to landfills until finding them in a non-profit recycling center, Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse. While these materials are all pre-loved and used, I have turned them into beautiful photographs with extensive meaning.