Figurative Bust

 

Overconsumption

Air-dry clay, wood, paint, ink, fabric, string, sticks, ribbon, brown pastel

Top: 3.5 x 4.5 x 6, Bottom: 5.5 x 4 x 7

The first sculpture reflects unethical consumerism and society's ignorance towards it. By using an abundant amount of materials in all different plasticky fabrics, it provides a visual guide of how harmful and unnecessary fast fashion can be. The second sculpture represents the underpaid and harshly treated workers who are first hand feeling the effects of this ignorance. By providing a faceless figure it commentates on how these kinds of unethical companies dont even see their workers as real people. And the coarser materials making up the base with the addition of the sweat beads reflects on how rough the working conditions are.  

Research 

https://www.eco-stylist.com/its-time-to-find-ethical-alternatives-to-fast-fashion-giant-shein/

Greenwashing is a very common claim these types of big unethical corporations make. They find that if they claim to use recycled materials people will ignore the fact that by creating these clothes they are leaving an even worse impact on the environment, "Let’s look at the sustainability of their materials. Dangerous levels of lead and other toxic chemicals have been found in SHEIN clothing. These chemicals are bad for workers, bad for the planet, and bad for the consumers who purchase SHEIN’s clothes, whether new or second hand."

https://brightly.eco/blog/shein-sustainability

Once again, false claims of sustainability is shown through statistics, "The fast fashion industry is the second most polluting industry, topped only by the oil and gas industry. Fast fashion is responsible for 20% of global wastewater and 10% of carbon emissions." 

https://www.elle.com.au/fashion/why-is-shein-so-bad-27846

All too commonly, many of these fast fashion companies are primarily known for the poor treatment of their workers, "On top of that, these employees were only given one day of leave each month and were found washing their hair during lunch breaks due to their toxic working environment."

In Progress