Artist Statement
On average, Americans throw away 81lbs of textiles per person, every year. This amounts to 26 billion pounds of textile waste in the United States alone. Although millions of pounds of garments are being produced each year, garment makers are paid mere dollars a day. Historically, sewing has been viewed as “women’s work” which has led to the exploitation of garment workers, predominantly women of color, around the world. My practice is a form of protest, a protest against poor working conditions of garment workers, fast fashion, green washing, micro trends, capitalism, and climate change.
I am an environmental activist, a maker, natural dyer, and a quilter who works through the medium of garment design. My work explores quilts that live on and off of the body. In reaction to the environmental epidemic of the textile industry, I design wearable art that is sustainable, unisex, accessible, and a rejects mirco trends. My work presents a conversation considering the fashion industry and its contribution to an ever-growing environmental crisis, while blurring the lines between art and fashion.
By piecing together textiles that were sourced from local thrift stores and pairing them with sentimental textiles, my work is a marriage of traditional and modern quilting. I am inspired by ancient forms of quilting and mending such as boro. Boro refers to a class of Japanese textiles that have been repaired, mended, and patched together. Once the boro garments had been passed down through generations and damaged beyond repair, they would be turned into rags and used to clean. My garments are created with comfort and functionality in mind and should be celebrated by being used, passed down, repaired, and having a life full of longevity. The functionality and utilitarian nature of my garments helps emphasize the importance of quality and craft within the sustainability movement. It would be a great shame to see one of my pieces hidden from daylight in the back of a closet because the wearer is too afraid of ruining it. It is my hope that the wearer embraces the stains, holes, and tears that come with time and that they contact me to rework and repair them as the garment ages.
Used textiles appeal to my sentimental nature because they are embedded with secret histories. Stitching these textiles together becomes very meditative and intuitive which leads me to daydreaming about the previous life of the textile. I am overcome by a sense of curiosity and discovery while stitching and collecting materials. I carefully curate the fabrics I use by focusing on quality, durability, and comfort and piece them together using elements of art such as line, shape, color, value, form, texture, and space. My work explores what makes a textile sacred to the wearer by using textiles that have sentimental meaning. By discovering what makes the textile sacred and translating that into my work, I am able to make others see garments the way I do, as art that lives on the body. Each recycled garment is full of stories; once I piece the textiles together a new story is formed while honoring its history.
My goal is to challenge the viewers’ perception of clothing and clothing makers. As a society we are obsessed with new content, which leads to micro trends that ultimately end up in landfills after a few short months. Since many of the garments we wear are made overseas, the average American does not see the working conditions of garment makers or the direct environmental impact of the fashion industry. Through acts of mending, sharing information with the community by leading workshops, and displaying unique examples of recycling and reversibility within garment design, I am able to demonstrate to the viewer the time and skills that are required to create an ethical garment. I intend to persuade my audience to make small lifestyle changes such as avoiding fast fashion when possible, washing their garments less, shopping second hand, and embracing the textiles and garments that they already own through altering, mending, and upcycling. These lifestyle changes along with holding big name clothing brands accountable will combat the negative effects that fashion and art have on the environment.
Artist Bio
Nina Littrell is a Kansas City based artist who is interested in merging art and fashion. She is an environmental activist, maker, natural dyer, and a quilter who works through the medium of garment design. Nina’s work explores quilts that live on and off of the body. Nina is currently a resident artist at Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City Missouri. She is using her residency to explore themes of storytelling and memory within her quilting practice.