A Toxic Beauty I, 2019

Video Installation

There are two versions of A Toxic Beauty, which is a commentary on and questioning of our consumption of fast fashion and the fashion industry as a whole. How often do we stop to think of the devastating effects of the fashion and textile industry on the environment and on the workers who produce our clothes. This initial work asked the question, how much do we actually need? Why do we keep on buying clothes when we already have so much and when we can wear only so many pieces at any one time. So layered up that we can’t move, can’t move from one room to the other, can’t get outside the house, becoming victims of our own insatiable appetite for more fast fashion.

This video shows a woman (and yes, men can be consumers of fast fashion too!) trying on different items of clothing, discarding each as she’s not happy with how she looks, believing she’s not matching the image the industry tries to sell to us. Eventually, she simply starts putting on layer after layer, like the Michelin man. Gradually, blue, green and red dyes start filling the screen. The colours merge into each other until it becomes a murky yellowish brown, the colour of polluted waterways.

https://vimeo.com/451549694 - Click on this link to watch A Toxic Beauty I