re-(t)exHile is a research device that acts and reflects on the environmental, socio-cultural, and economic impacts of fashion's waste crisis.
As a result of the "fast fashion" phenomenon, consumption, and the overproduction of textiles, countries from the Global North send exorbitant amounts of second-hand clothing to countries from the Global South. Many of these cheap clothes, once their short lives are over, end up on vast dump sites, along riverbeds and washed out into the sea, or are burnt on open fires, with severe consequences for people and the planet.
The project begins with and departs from our participation in the 2024 Lagos Biennale for which we developed a textile processual artwork made with nearly 500 second-hand textile products acquired from the Katangua market, one of the largest in Lagos, Nigeria. To confront and respond to the problems linked to textile waste arriving from the Global North into the Global South, in collaboration with local professionals we created a textile installation that was activated through a collective sewing action.
The processual character of the work is emphasized in the next stages of the project: the re-export of the work to the Global North, pointing to the need to address the waste crisis caused by overproduction and overconsumption where the problem begins.
re-(t)exHile continues its research in Slovakia, Norway and Chile delving deeper into the specific issues of textile waste and activating local strategies to address this crisis from diverse contexts.
