Ida Karkoszka & Joos van Cleve? Sins of the world
oryginal tittle: „Ida Karkoszka & Joos van Cleve? Grzechy świata”
Royal Castle in Warsaw, 2024
Key in the Castle
Klucz w Zamku
Curator:
Monika Przypkowska
Photo:
Piotr Szmyt
Sculpture:
Fashionista
(2016 – 2019)
Mixed media. Jute bank bags, clothing tags
113 x 38 x 128 cm
The environmental toll of fast fashion is no longer a distant issue; it's a pressing global crisis with devastating consequences for both the planet and human health”
The phenomenon of fast fashion is a problem on both a national and global scale. According to UN estimates, the fashion industry is responsible for 8 to 10 percent of global carbon emissions, 20 percent of total water consumption worldwide, and 8 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2018, the clothing industry consumed more energy than both air and sea transport combined. Textile overproduction, 92 million tons annually, is no longer a creeping but a full-blown environmental disaster. Bombs are ticking in hiding, far from the eyes of the Western hubs of the world, such as the Atacama Desert. This is one of the fastest-growing clothing landfills in the world. Clothes imported from Japan, Europe, and the United States are transported to a duty-free port, then to the stalls of La Quebradilla, the largest clothing market in Chile. What cannot be sold ends up in the desert. The destruction of the natural landscape is one problem; the second, perhaps more important, is that the chemical additives in this non-biodegradable clothing are just as toxic as used tires or plastics.
Zamiast tej treści chce wstawić zdjęcie poniżej to ciemne
However, even the most wonderful plans of officials must be supported by pressure from a conscious society. One of those helping to spark this involvement is Ida Karkoszka, whose work „Fashionistka” (2016-19), adorned with labels from various parts of the world, defenseless like a lamb led to the slaughter, becomes a metaphor for the victims of the sins of THIS world. The Good Shepherd, who accompanied her in ancient statues and Christian compositions, seems to have disappeared. It appears that the arrival of the Messiah, promised by prophets like Saint John the Baptist in a painting once linked to the workshop of Joos Van Cleve (1520), may be overtaken by an apocalyptic eco-catastrophe.
Eco-activists have sounded the alarm on this issue for a long time, and part of the fashion community has taken action by promoting vintage fashion and local designers or domestic clothing companies. The European Commission has also taken it up. In 2022, a strategy for sustainable textiles was published, which predicts that by 2030, textile products introduced to the European market will be durable, free from hazardous substances, produced with respect for community rights, recyclable, and largely made from fibers derived from recycling.
Monika Przypkowska
SCULPTURE 
Fashionista
(2016 – 2019)
113 x 38 x 128 cm
Mixed media. Jute bank bags, clothing tags