Faculty of Design

Material Art & Design

Ruisong Feng

Standing beside the river

The fast fashion industry is one of the major causes of water pollution. Aiming to increase efficiency and reduce costs, they use cheap synthetic dyes and discharge untreated toxic sewage into rivers.

“A sculpture piece shows three human figures standing on the dry river bed, are all wearing clothes made of non-woven polypropylene fabric, commonly used in the garment industry. Instead of sewing each piece traditionally with needle and thread, these fabrics are melted and stick together by burning the edges of each piece, which reflects fast fashion's pursuit of production speed and its neglect of quality. The dyed water flows down the fabric randomly represents the toxic dye materials discharged casually by garment factories. As sewage continues to flow over the stones, they will gradually be dyed into the sewage colour. At first, the colour change is not obvious. However, when the installation turns off, the colour of the environment would become much darker as the water dries, which emphasizes the consequences of water pollution are not obvious at the beginning, but if people don’t pay attention, it would become out of control.”