The Crossover Project

This unique print of a limited edition of 1 of a series of 4 artworks is part of The Crossover Project collection, made from waste and surplus materials. The exhibited print is the Artist Proof. This giclée print is printed on Awagami Washi Bamboo paper. Crafted from natural fibres + pure mountain water, it’s handmade for beautiful print output and longevity. This paper is 100% ecological.

About the artwork
To extract from what isn’t ours, from what isn’t visible to us, from what doesn’t affect us, and what therefore, isn’t ours to take responsibility for—the phenomenon of not-in-my-backyard is rooted in the colonialist-casteist reality and mentality of using ‘the other’s’ land, body and breath as a dumping ground for oneself. 

These artworks use roughly 18 ounces of the 18.6 million tonnes of fashion waste produced globally per year. If this trend continues, over 150 million tonnes of clothing waste will clog landfills by 2050. The existence of unregulated landfills is violence. These mountains continue taking up space, resources and lives in countries with a history of being colonized, causing irreparable harm to the environment and people living in affected areas. These exist because waste circulates one way round the globe, from the Global North to the Global South, and one way within every country, including India, from the privileged to the oppressed. 

Invisibilized, underpaid women of color run the fashion industry. First, as garment workers making the product and later as waste pickers collecting it when it is discarded as trash. An industry marketed to empower women in actuality is built on capitalizing them.

“As Long As It Doesn’t Grow in My Backyard” is artist Rhea Gupte’s ask to the viewer to recognise the ongoing exploitation from white supremacy, the existence of waste colonialism and the caste based violence at the root of the fashion industry. There is an urgent need for a new culture around waste where the ones producing it take full responsibility for it, make amends for the harm caused and set new systems in place. 

How can we reconsider consumption, question production and rectify the injustice of waste?

About the artist
Rhea Gupte is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Goa, India whose thought provoking body of work has been exhibited across the world and is often featured in major publications. A storyteller at heart, her work explores the vulnerabilities and strengths of human emotions through the mundane, transient and often inanimate. The artist chose to partner with Doodlage who supplied the garment waste used to create these artworks. Doodlage is a fashion brand leading the discussion around sustainability and circularity in India.

About the Crossover Project
For the first time at such a scale, The Crossover Project brings together the worlds of art, design and fashion in a bid to tackle waste within the creative industries. With 1.6m tonnes of furniture and bulky waste ending in landfill each year in the UK, the project aims to salvage waste from the design and fashion sectors and present it to an exciting roster of talented emerging artists represented by avant-garde gallery Bleur to create unique works of art using art as a force for change to raise awareness around the need for circularity of materials to tackle waste. The collection of works will be exhibited in an immersive exhibition at The Royal Exchange in London from 23rd June until 8th July. Partner brands include Diesel, Ron Dorff, Georg Jensen, Elle Decoration and Edward Bulmer and others. 

@bleur_art
www.bleurart.com
www.crossoverprojectofficial.com