Sustainability
Many artists from the art community have chosen to be much more vocal in trying to get across the message of how important it is to be sustainable in their way of living. With the fashion industry there is a massive problem with fast fashion. “the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has calculated the fashion industry produces 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions every year, while it is estimated to use around 1.5 trillion litres of water annually.”(1) Photographer Galyna Greiss has spoken on how she tries to work as environmentally friendly as she can with what she does. With this photo-shoot, Greiss explores fast fashion as well as compares the industry to fast food by creating fashion with disposable, styrofoam fast food containers. “It is estimated that emissions from agriculture (including methane emissions from meat and dairy farming) will comprise 70% of the maximum allowable GHGs by 2050,”(2) Greiss uses this photo-shoot to compare how the convenience of fast food and fast fashion is the reason for them being some of the biggest industries in the world.
Identity
Our identity is how we describe who we are to society. In this photo-shoot, Heinz Homatsch shows the audience how simple it is for our identity to be taken from us. We see in this picture a homeless person with fabric covering them entirely. We have no idea who this person is or any information about what they look like. This shows how society views homeless people. Their identity has been stripped from them and the only thing we are allowed to know about them is that they are homeless. When society sees homelessness they do not see the person and that person’s identity means nothing to them as all that society chooses to see is that they are homeless. “The way the homelessness sector and the media communicate about homelessness has a direct impact on public understanding and attitudes towards the problem. This also affects whether the public will demand political change.”(3) Heinz uses this photograph to simply show the importance of the public’s view of these people and how important it is to a person that they have an individual identity.
Innovation
When thinking of innovation I remembered reading about Dr. Manel Torres, he has created a spray on fabric. “The spray-on fabric consists of short fibres that are combined with polymers to bind them together and a solvent that delivers the fabric in liquid form. The solvent evaporates when the spray touches the surface.”(4) This idea was something i had never heard of before and instantly interested me as to how it would work. I at first thought that it would be a lot like body art, however “Fabrican” is actual fabric that bonds together once sprayed onto any surface and has been said to have helped also in the medical world as a quick bandage. They have spoken of how this product could also help environmentally, “the fabric absorbs oil, and so could be used to clean up after oil tanker disasters, which can cause catastrophic environmental damage.”(5) While also helping to reduce the fast fashion industry. The mix of science and fashion has interested many people into further exploring how the product works and if it is as practical as said.
Communication
When looking for interesting logos I decided to look into the Toblerone logo. The company was founded in Bern, Switzerland by Theodor Tobler, however, the company was later taken over by his son Jean. The name of the company comes from the founders second name Tobler. This shows the receivers of the product straight away that this is a family company and what part of their product contains. Although, when it comes to the actual logo, many don’t notice the hidden image. At first glance we can see that it is a mountain, known as ‘The Matterhorn’, which helps show the company’s Swiss origins. The mountain shape was also the inspiration for the signature shape of chocolate that Toblerone is most known for. However, upon a closer look we can see the shape of a bear hidden in the shadows of the mountain. This is significant as “the city of Bern happens to have a bear – in the municipal coat of arms.”(6) Therefore this logo is once again showing their origins.
My logo for a coffee and book store
Gender
The restriction of gender roles in today’s society are constantly being broken. Looking at how we are now, we are much more free to be who we want to be compared to how things were before. During the 40’s 50’s and 60’s in America you could have been arrested for “cross-dressing” if you weren’t seen wearing at least three articles of clothing assigned to your biological gender. “In LGBTQ circles around the country, this was known as the three-article rule—or the three-piece law.”(7) However, this law did not technically exist, it was simply a way to further oppress the LGBTQ+ community. Cahun was a trans photographer from the early 20th century who broke the gender norms of the time with their work. In this portrait we can see cahun looking away from a mirror showing how they refused to conform to the gender rules that had been set in place for them and shows us the duality of gender and gender expression. When asked about gender expression they stated “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”(8)
Place
‘The Nuba Survival’ is found in the middle of a remote field, next to a collapsed barn in South Oxfordshire,. The artist John Buckley, most known for his sculpture of a shark sticking out of a roof in Headington, Oxford, created it in order to shed light on the strength and the struggle of the citizens of South Sudan. He was inspired by a visit to the Nuba Mountains in South Sudan in 2000. “Thirty years of fighting has left the indigenous tribes living in the Nuba Mountains on the edge of survival, what some relief groups are calling an ethnic genocide.”(9) The resiliance of the people inspired Buckley to show more people their bravery and the seriousness of the threat to thier lives. “He witnessed first hand a mass attempt to wipe out a cultural identity through ethnic cleansing, slavery and fierce attacks on the traditional homelands.”(10) The collapsed barn in the background adds to the sculpture’s atmosphere of hopelessness and the empty field gives the feeling of loneliness.
Bibliography
Atlas Obscura. (n.d.). “The Nuba Survival.” [online] Available at: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nuba-survival-sculpture.
Crisis. (2017). Chapter 4: Public attitudes and homelessness | The Plan To End Homelessness | Crisis | Together we will end homelessness. [online] Available at: https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/the-plan-to-end-homelessness-full-version/background/chapter-4-public-attitudes-and-homelessness/.
Derelict Places. (n.d.). The Nuba Survival, Checkendon April 2016. [online] Available at: https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/threads/the-nuba-survival-checkendon-april-2016.33002/.
Fabrican Spray-on fabric. (2012). Fabrican Spray-on fabric. [online] Available at: http://www.fabricanltd.com/.
International Environmental Technology (2019). How Does Fast Food Impact the Environment? [online] Envirotech Online. Available at: https://www.envirotech-online.com/news/business-news/44/breaking-news/how-does-fast-food-impact-the-environment/48286.
Ryan, H. (2019). How Dressing in Drag Was Labeled a Crime in the 20th Century. [online] HISTORY. Available at: https://www.history.com/news/stonewall-riots-lgbtq-drag-three-article-rule.
Tate (n.d.). Claude Cahun 1894–1954. [online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/claude-cahun-10611.
the Guardian. (2020). Fast fashion speeding toward environmental disaster, report warns. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/07/fast-fashion-speeding-toward-environmental-disaster-report-warns#:~:text=Fast%20fashion%20speeding%20toward%20environmental%20disaster%2C%20report%20warns. [Accessed 9 Mar. 2021].
Toni Marino. (2018). Toblerone Logo | A Mountain of Chocolate With A Hidden Bear Secret. [online] Available at: https://tonimarino.co.uk/toblerone-logo/.