Paradoxes of Plenty #55 #56 #57 #58 #59 #60 (People over Profits)

The project originates from the artist’s extensive research that explores the enduring relationship between humans and the environment. This entails an analysis of the evolutions, socio-political shifts, and socio-economic contradictions within late globalized capitalism. The presented work delves into the industrial history of textile production and the repercussions of its outsourcing. A montage of images from various time periods is articulated on the two-dimensional surface: tables on textile art from the renowned Encyclopédie by Diderot and D’Alembert (1772); photographs depicting the early textile factories, where the loom transformed from a craft tool into a symbol of the industrial revolution; protest slogans of exploited workers; advertisements dispersed along U.S. roads, seeking laborers for cotton harvesting; and images of the Rana Plaza factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which have become contemporary icons of the social and environmental disasters linked to mass production. These images can be likened to historical paintings in their attempt to evoke past experiences. Yet, they don’t merely represent events; rather, they strive to convey a web of connections and consequences. Textile production played a pivotal role in significant moments leading to the emergence of the capitalist system, persisting as a recurring motif over the decades. Superimposed over these intricate montages are drawings of textile plants, the sources of fibers (cotton, linen, nettle, hemp…), concluding the narrative by returning it to the ecosystem. This intertwines the role of plants as educators, resources, and then as commodities for humanity.