Did you know that a truckload of clothing is burned or landfilled every second?
Over the last few years, the rise of fast fashion brands like H&M and Zara has been rapidly overtaken by ultra-fast fashion brands like Shein, with anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 designs added to their website. Every. Single. Day.
Despite more and more brands using words like eco-friendly, recyclable, and sustainable – most of it is just greenwashing. That’s why photographer and activist Benjamin Von Wong teamed up with the Kunstverein in Ludwigsburg, Germany – to change up the conversation.
Benjamin Von Wong: “To bring this project to life, an entire truckload of clothes was collected. The Gebrauchtwarenladen der Karlshöhe, a social enterprise in Ludwigsburg, Germany that gives jobs to the underprivileged, receives these many clothes in just three days.
Leonie, an apprentice carpenter from Rikker, volunteered with us for nearly ten days - building, designing, and adapting to the project, in which we used reclaimed wood and nylon fishing nets, to support our clothing.
The next few days were spent looking through all the beautiful items of clothing we had collected – sorting and organizing first by colors, then by shade before hanging them into our structure without damaging them – so they could eventually be returned when we sunset the art installation.
Putting together this installation was like a thrifting adventure, never knowing what we would discover next.
To help us sort through the massive volume of clothing – we needed the help of local students. Dozens of teenagers from various schools came to help us sort, organize and place the clothing on the installation while also taking the chance to learn about the fashion industry’s impact on the environment.
These students were no different than the 170 million children employed in the textile industry. Fashion is not just an environmental crisis: it’s a humanitarian one too.
Interestingly, the gallery space with the lights off, bars at the windows and an eerie smoky atmosphere gave us the perfect ambiance imitating a sweatshop.
All our tools and props were borrowed, including the new Satos lightning kit from broncolor!
I have found, over the years, that renting or borrowing is often easier than owning. It’s cheaper, more eco-friendly, and it invites other community partners to participate and work together with us to bring projects to life!
Even organic clothing has a huge footprint. A single organic cotton t-shirt uses 2500L of water. Too many companies are trying to fix the greenwashing machine by making less harmful products – but we already have enough clothing on shelves today to last us for the next 100 years!
Sustainability is not just about buying less. It’s also about navigating enoughness within us and society at large.
Re-using is the most sustainable thing we can do - Buying used, swapping, or trading can be frustrating, or it can be fun. We just need to find the right community and tools.
With online platforms like Poshmark and Thredup popping up to make thrifting easier than ever and local clothing swaps being hosted left and right, give it a shot! You might be surprised!”
The borrowed Satos kit consisted of the Satos 1600 and the Pulso L with regular light shapers and special reflectors. Additionally in use was the Siros 400L and the 800L.
Thanks to the compatibility and flexibility of broncolor products, the special light setup could be emphasized with the use of P70 reflectors, a softbox 30x120, a Para 88 with a honeycomb grid, a beauty box and a beauty dish reflector.
Credits
- Construction: Leonie Gunsch – Rikker, Holzbau GmbH
- Cinematography: Manuel Gussmann
- Production: Birgit Holzwarth, Harald Jahnke, Luisa Knuth; Kunstverein Ludwigsburg
- Clothing: Karlshöhe, Gebrauchtwarenladen
- Printing: ASSOZIATION Bergmann GmbH
- Lettering: Tina Fernandez
- Graphic Design: Jessica Widmeier
- Photo Assistants: Andreas Schlierf, Manuel Olze, Marc Hörrmann
- Lighting: broncolor
- School Classes:
Mrs.Udroiu & Mrs.Akrimi / Aktivierungshilfe der Caritas
Mrs.Geckeler / Grade 6&7 / Schillergymnasium Ludwigsburg
Mrs.Klemp & Mrs.Luib / Grade 7 /Hanfbachschule Möglingen
Mrs.Nonnenmacher / Grade 4 / Osterholzschule Ludwigsburg
- Volunteers:
Annrike Udroiu, Nathalie, Antonia, Marlene & Theo Haak, Claudia Goepferich, Mirjam Kern, Jochen Siegele, Lotte Jahnke, Sissi Ban, Uli Jahnke, Simon Jahnke, Annegret Gussmann, Lena Dernai, Felix Stillhammer, Ananiya Khumalo, Urs Recher, Bernhard, Toni, Liam, Hanna, Charlotte
- Models:
Boat: Birgit Holzwarth, Luisa Knuth, Sashiko
Sewing & Fishing: Josephine Priebe, Angelos Tsakiris, Kolja Holzwarth
Mechanics: Andreas Schlierf, Manuel Olze, Marc Hörrmann
- Funded by: Stadt Ludwigsburg Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart Wüstenrot Stiftung
