As the conversation surrounding the harmful implications of the fashion industry grows, we can clearly point out that Western brands lie at the heart of many of the exploitations taking place. Oddly enough these same Western brands position themselves as the ones who will resolve the flawed systems they created and currently profit off of. A new exhibition by the State of Fashion, a platform that showcases alternatives to the current fashion system, challenges this idea of looking at the perpetrator for the solution.
Once every two years the State of Fashion organizes a large-scale public event, known as the Biennale, where an urgent theme is presented and addressed by an ever-changing team of curators. In their open call for curators in 2024, State of Fashion challenged their applicants to respond to the main questions of: how can the format of the Biennale actively challenge prevailing perspectives and make room for untold stories and experiences? How can we define the unequal power relations between the dominant Global North and the Global South and how can we share and disseminate non-Western knowledge?
For this year’s theme, State of Fashion 2024 | Ties that Bind, the chosen curators, Rachel Dedman and Louise Bennetts, respond to the presented questions by completely decentralizing the Biennale itself.
Usually located in Arnhem, Netherlands, Dedman and Bennetts invited three curators from the Global South to form a team and present the Biennale in their respective hometowns. State of Fashion 2024 unfolded in four locations: the homesite Arnhem and three international sister sites: Nairobi, Bengaluru, and São Paulo. In each sister site, an interlocutor – Sunny Dolat, Kallol Datta and Hanayrá Negreiros – had been invited to develop a State of Fashion project in their local context, responding to the themes of the Biennale as they relate to the urgencies and experiences of their cities and communities.
“Rooted in the universal intimacy of fabric, Ties that Bind seeks to amplify the kinships and connectedness among global practices, and share the powerful human stories woven into what we wear…Ties that Bind showcased together creative practices in fashion, textiles and contemporary art from across the Global South. This edition of the Biennale explored the complexities of tradition, the political power of clothing, and alternative approaches to exploitative fashion systems.
Explore each sister site:
