PRAKSIS

Climate change is indisputably a problem that is largely created by a privileged elite from the Global North, but it disproportionately impacts nations and regions in the South, alongside those in the north who have least resources to protect themselves from its effects. How might artists, wherever they come from, mobilise the local knowledge of individuals and communities from the Global South as they act in relation to climate crisis? How can they absorb and/or deploy globally interconnected knowledge and skills without reproducing the imperialist concepts and practices that underpinned colonial modernity?

The luxury industry offers its consumers status, authenticity and integrity - the chance to meet aspirations of wealth and class and transcend identities. However, the reality of the industry is much darker. Luxury fashion alone contributes 4% of global carbon emissions (McKinsey, Fashion on climate report, 2020), the same amount of greenhouse gases as France, Germany, and the UK combined. Further to this the industry’s supply chains are notoriously opaque, with materials and production processes used by European luxury brands often involving child labour, hazardous working conditions and exploitation of people in the Global South.