Martha Wakefield

Bare Bones

Inspired by: Robert Adams, Bulldozed Slash Evelyn Rydz, Gulf Pile John Willis, Recycled Realities 1

archival pigment print

18″ x 24″

2022

The crinoline, once utilitarian, evolved into a fashionable item of the mid 19th century. It allowed women to wear numerous petticoats. This innocuous undergarment is emblematic of the rampant waste in today’s fashion industry. The catastrophic impact of the making and disposal of clothing and its social consequences are finally being addressed worldwide. The European Union’s goal is for all textiles to be reparable, recyclable, and fiber free of hazardous ingredients by 2030, while Massachusetts recently banned all textile disposal. These works of Evelyn Rydz, John Willis and Robert Adams address our serpentine co-existence with the natural world. They confront us to take responsibility for our frivolous consumption. My work explores the contradictory nature between a garment and its environmental entanglement. Do we want to leave the land barren with only a remnant of our presence?

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