Christy Chow, winner of the Hong Kong Human Rights Arts Prize, presents Second Life, a fun, interactive clothing exchange to raise awareness on reducing textile waste. HKFP is a media partner.
This Friday’s Hong Kong event was inspired by two previous clothing exchanges organised by Christy Chow, in Cadiz, Spain and Boston, US.
She invited the local community to bring their unwanted clothes, exchange them with each other and reflect on the large issues of textile waste and labour rights. Now in Hong Kong, a city fascinated with consumerism and fast fashion, Christy hopes to get participants to be more conscious with the clothing decisions we make every day.
As an artist, Christy has been creating provocative art on human rights and sustainability since 2014.
She grew up in an ordinary working class family in Tai Po, where her mother would bring home parts from the factory and work on them while looking after the children. When Christy heard about the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in 2013, she could not shake off the thought that her mother could have been one of the factory workers in the tragic accident. Since then, she used her art to explore the deeper issues of labour rights in the textile industry.
Her recent work, “De-stitching”, won her the Hong Kong Human Rights Arts Prize in 2017. The artwork features Christy deconstructing a fast fashion shirt made by a sweatshop worker in South Asia one stitch at a time over five hours and provokes the viewer to question the value of labour and true cost behind the clothes we wear everyday.
Now with a light-hearted format of a clothing exchange party, Christy invites you to clean out your closet, exchange your unwanted clothes with others, and be more conscious with the next clothing purchase. All leftover clothes will be donated to Redress, a leading Hong Kong charity working to reduce textile waste in the fashion industry.
“A party is fun, a party with art is great, a party with art that can help to save our planet is amazing! Just bring your unwanted clothes and join the party” she says.
Kid-friendly and free entry for everyone, the clothing exchange party will take place this Friday at The Hive Spring, 7pm.
- When: Friday, May 25 – 7pm-9pm.
- Where: The Hive Spring, 3/F Remex Centre, 42 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Click for directions.
- Entry: Free.
