Prisca Mbala
Week 1 – Sustainability
When being introduced to the brief, I was told that sustainability is the “acknowledgment of nature boundaries, the living harmony of nature and mankind” . I had this in mind when doing research and had discovered that there was a poor overstimulation of natures natural resources such as water used to dye textiles and disrespectfully bypassing the boundaries by dumping their waste back into fresh bodies of water. After researching some images on the dye pollution, I had created this embroidery piece that was heavily inspired by the unnatural colour of water in the rivers. I had also used recycled fabric and plastic to hand embroider on to extend the life cycle of these items
Week 2 – Emerging Technologies in Fashion
During the seminar, we had learned of the 4 phases of technology introduction. With receiving this knowledge, I had then done some research on what might fall under the “Innovation Trigger” Bracket and had found out about Adobe’s Project Primrose. The fabric of this dress is made of these reflective interactive sensors that change via command such as movement or with the click of a button. with a closer look at the fabric of the dress, I had created an art piece that imitates the reflective sensors and the ability to change colours and pattern on a pretty dull coloured piece of paper to contrast the dull fabric of the present to the invigorating fabric of the future.
Week 3 – Nature in Fashion
According to the 2020 BBC Future article “Why clothes are so hard to recycle” About 85% of ALL textiles, gets thrown away in the US. Such a staggeringly high statistic proves to show that people are not only beyond exploiting the accessibility of the textiles resources we have, they’re doing nothing in terms of intentionally designing items that have purpose, functionality, longevity and sustainability all in mind. I also found out that less than 1% of materials used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing at the end of it’s life. As I have lots of old clothes that would’ve otherwise been sold or thrown out, I’ve decided to extend it’s life cycle my using it as a fabric source to embroider on. The fabric is cotton and I have embroidered some dead flower heads onto it. I believe it shows the reality of fashion and it’s microplastics killing off nature.
Week 4- Cultural Sustainability
In terms of cultural sustainability, I had done some first hand research by inetrviewing a friend who’s own culture thrives of sustainbilty fashion-wise.n This is because back in Nigeria, there are many women who own market stalls and create and their own designs start to finish, to later sell them to make a profit. This is a very common practice their and the reason as to why its sustainable and ethical because they source the fabric themselves and sometimes they produce there own on fabrics, because they are sourcing the fabrics themselves they are also paying out of their own pocket this meaning that the designs they chose are more intricate and are more weary to reduce the of was amount waste. they make sure to spend quality time on their garments since each piece contributes to their main source of income but overall means that they can charger higher prices for each of the pieces and since its a common practice everyone acknowledges and appreciates the craftmanship behind each quality piece, which will last longer, and are willing to spend those higher prices this means that they are participating less in fast fashion as they are considering the intentional prices of the pieces. i will take this into account when c eating my own designs so that i am carrying this method of sustainability.
Week 5- Empathy
in terms of empathy, when i was younger i use to draw a lot due to emotions this conveyed quite a powerful message and i found that when people received my artwork, in some kind of form it resonated with them this lead me wanting to communicate more with my audience. In order to reach them emotionally, mentally, physically to convey a message that stir a response from them
Prisca, I agree that the fashion industry wastes lots of natural resources such as water and trees. I was surprised when I researched water pollution that it is caused by the fashion industry. Some rivers turned colour red or unnormal water colour because of chemical dyeing. As textile students, I think we need to keep in mind this problem and use sustainability techniques in our works. I like your textile sample that inspired overstimulation of natural resources. Furthermore, you used recycled fabric and embroidery. I think you considered sustainability in fashion in various ways. I think I need to think about the environment in a different way like you. In the second week, thank you for giving new information about technology fashion. I did not know about this project. I also was surprised that Adobe did a technology fashion project. I enjoyed your work that inspired you on this primrose project. I mainly use organza or light fabric in my work, however I want to use that futuristic fabric in my other work, too. In the third session, I was surprised that 85% of textiles were just thrown away on land. This is one of the problems of fast fashion that I think. I usually used fabric that I bought or left-over fabrics for school or friends, however, I can also use second hand clothes or textile, either. I like your work because it is meaningful. I want to think about the subject deeply. At the time I am writing this comment, you wrote about three weeks of lectures, therefore I will write more when you add other lecture sessions. Thank you for showing your works, and giving me lots of inspiration.
I’ve noticed that with my own work, it is quite educational. I like to share and teach others what I’ve learned with my responses, which makes it quite informative and with feedback on my work, I’ve also learned that it makes people connect and deeply process what they’re doing in their own day to day lifestyle in response to it. Although this is a positive trait, I believe that it’s more so a display of my ability to research well and go quite in depth with it, rather than my ability to create, and create quite innovatively. I say this because my responses are quite literal reflections of my research. Even if it is great that there is a strong connection and understanding to the seminars, I definitely think that they perhaps can be a bit more experimentative to push my creativity a little further. On top of this I am aware that there isn’t as much experimentation as I’d like for there to be. It seems quite equational “topic+research=image response”. There is not one week where I had done a little more than one sample and allowed for myself to have fun with it unfortunately. Acknowledging this, I think I can improve by not moving so quickly from one topic onto the next and really letting each subject sink in to find different ways to communicate subjects creatively. I want my work to stir up people enough that when they look at my work, they can ask within themselves “what is the meaning behind this and why has she done it this way?”. Overall I am not displeased with the outcome of my work but I definitely know that it can be a stronger display of my creative identity.