‘One Thousand Bunnies’ is work consisting of 1,000 small bunnies created from garments sourced from The Eden Project’s Lost Property shed. Modern clothing has such little value to the consumer that few people reclaim their lost items and so these accidentally discarded garments bear a significant cost to the environmental charity in their disposal. In this, the Eden Project becomes a microcosm for a global problem of overproduction, overconsumption and then waste management through the discarding of vast amounts of clothing before the end of their useful life.
‘One Thousand Bunnies’ aims to reframe one’s relationship to this waste. By transforming lost garments into appealing soft sculptures, the artist highlights some of the myriad problems associated with fast fashion, changing the viewers’ emotional reaction to waste. What was once dirty, disgusting, an item of rubbish to be rejected, has been transformed into an object that pleads to be picked up and cherished. What was once repulsive and shameful, becomes an object of love and comfort.
For some, ‘One Thousand Bunnies’ can be just a pile of soft toys wanting to be played with, or it can take you on a deeper journey regarding capitalist modes of overconsumption, global trade routes, fair trade and the environmental damage of textile production – how far on the journey you want to go depends on how open you are to the transformation of your thinking, and potentially, your shopping habits.
Of the original one thousand bunnies, several hundred have already been sold at previous exhibitions, with some of the money raised being used to finance a local school project with the Bedouin in Dahab, Egypt teaching both boys and girls together in the same classroom. In this, that which was the most abject – rubbish and rejected – has transitioned into a source of empowerment and education. There are still many bunnies left needing rehoming…