The following are some art pieces I have done for my graduate classes at University of Florida, Masters Program. This was a series on Fashion, and the ethics of manufacturing and buying for the fashion industry.
"Not Born In The USA"
by Debra Troyanos
(a take off on the Bruce Springsteen Album cover with jeans)
This was part of a series of photos I did as a political/social statement about where our clothes come from,
and how the fashions we put on our back (or our children's back) have global implications. Particularly the manufacturing of denim uses child labor, and does extreme environmental damage. The work is meant to call attention to the ethics of what we buy and to be aware of where it comes from. We must keep in mind, that just as we are what we eat due to what goes in our body, We Are What We Wear as well. First I did some photographs, then I created a digital image in the form of a map which was made from the pairs of jeans in my own family. Last, using humor and American Girl Dolls I attempted to make the political statement in yet another way. See below for Artists Statement that goes with the work.
and how the fashions we put on our back (or our children's back) have global implications. Particularly the manufacturing of denim uses child labor, and does extreme environmental damage. The work is meant to call attention to the ethics of what we buy and to be aware of where it comes from. We must keep in mind, that just as we are what we eat due to what goes in our body, We Are What We Wear as well. First I did some photographs, then I created a digital image in the form of a map which was made from the pairs of jeans in my own family. Last, using humor and American Girl Dolls I attempted to make the political statement in yet another way. See below for Artists Statement that goes with the work.
We Are What We Wear
According to my research, on any given day, nearly half the world’s population is wearing jeans. In the USA alone, there are 520 million pairs of jeans sold annually. There are questions we as consumers should consider about how closely our buying habits are related to the fates of those who produce our jeans. There are several serious issues of child labor, sweatshops, and human rights abuses related to the cotton cultivation and garment industry factories. The dyes and chemicals used in production are poured mercilessly into the water supplies of the third world countries where the factories are located with little regulation. In addition the carbon footprint of just one pair of jeans is appalling when you consider the amount of water, pesticides, dye, and the materials and energy required for packaging and transport, and all the greenhouse gases included in these processes. In this piece I have painted a world map onto a pair of denim jeans using bleach, to depict the global impact they make. The bleach refers to the chemicals in them, as well as acts to “remove” the dyes that have caused the problems to the water supplies of innocent people. After painting the continents, I have created a yarn tie with knots that show each location where denim production occurs, starting in the U.S., then to Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, India, and China. I chose the color red to represent the blood of the people who are harmed by the production. I wanted the tie to have a child-like quality to represent the children who work in the fields, and who are kept captive and forced into labor. The ties may look like a ribbon you would see in a little girl’s hair or a little boy’s pocket, or like barbed wire; depending if it is a western child who might wear these jeans, or a third-world child who might be forced to produce them. It is my hope that this challenges us to examine the consequences and ethics of denim production to people and the environment on a global level, and to educate ourselves on what we can do.