A Piece for Peace... L.O.L. Vintage Style
After watching a link online a friend had sent me in reference to the protests that are happening on Wall Street in Manhattan, New York, I began working on an art project to release my feelings on Corporate Greed and Human Slavery. I began working in my sketchbook and needed a clothing tag, something that said "Made In China"... so I began looking through my clothes.
On my computer screen was the website for Occupy Wall Street, a video streaming from Youtube featuring an interview from Chris Hedges and finished with a video by Bret Dennen.
Listening to the words of both this Journalist and the Musician I want nothing more than to bring this awareness, this knowledge, to the people. But how? Surely people hear the words and understand... Surely they know that they as individuals have the freedom of choice and they know that they can make a huge change in the world?
Clothing... so as I rummage through my pile of clothes I search to find an article that has a tag. I come across 'Organic', 'Made In USA', 'Made In Italy' and 'Fair Trade'... because those are choices I made along the way. I made a choice to only purchase clothing that was made consciously and not to support Human Trafficking and to be more sustainable in what I wear. I remember the day I became aware. It wasn't from all the little signs and speeches I received along the way... it was one day sitting in the grass at what is known as 'RISD Beach' on Benefit Street in Providence, RI. It was in the Fall and I was talking to a Brown University Student who was majoring in Environmental Studies and Economics while taking classes at RISD in Textiles. While talking to this young woman she conjured in my mind images I had seen during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the environmental problem of toxic waste from clothing. She wasn't talking about the toxic dyes, fumes, or results from production of synthetic fabrics... she was talking about consumption and the mass amounts of non-biodegradeble materials that consumers feed daily. The feeding of the greed and the piles upon piles of wasted clothing and the mass production which is a cost not only to our environment but to our people.
At the bottom of the pile I find a t-shirt that I got from a yardsale for fifty cents. A shirt that I bought because it was comfortable and it had a nice big Peace sign on it. If I buy my clothes 'Made in China' or some other country where I am sure someone is suffering to feed the Corporate Greed, I usually buy them second hand at a Yard Sale or Used Clothing Store where I know the money is going to a good cause. So here I find my tie-died Peace symbol shirt with a little hole on the sleeve and look at the tag... which there isn't one. There is only a print on the back inside neck area in a really pretty design of a nice color and font. This sort of design makes me think of Organic and Fairtrade companies and makes me think all is well with this t-shirt... it is soft, nice colors, positive symbol reflecting Peace... It appears to represent all that I am conscious of. The Brand name even has me captured, 'L.O.L Vintage' makes me think of smiling and laughing with my grandma in a room with doilies and lace curtains. Branding and Marketing is everything... and Corporate America is Brilliant at making the Consumer think all is happy in t-shirt making land... all is happy right?
L.O.L... I want to Laugh Out Loud!!
Made In Thailand.
That is where I stop. I feel like I've been cheated somehow. I hesitate and really feel like cutting it out of the neck and using the shirt to promote peace through art as wearing it would be supporting its creation and the greed of the system.
Target. Big time Corporate America, has a line of clothing made by 'L.O.L Vintage' that boast signs and symbols of Freedom and Peace. Butterflies, Rainbows, Peace Symbols, Flying Birds and The Words "Peace" "Love" "Recycle"... The message is great. The designs are exactly what we want. The colors and textures are truly delicious. But the fibers that carry the message... are they what you think they are? What if there is a child or woman on the other side of the planet that is giving their life for pennies so you can pay Corporate America $20 or more so you can wear that message?
Corporate America has us all thinking that if we simply wear the sign of 'Peace' then we are in fact acting in the Peaceful way. Are you truly at Peace wearing it? If we wear a shirt that says 'Recycle' that we really intend to reuse and Recycle it. Will you do that? That if we wear the words 'Freedom' then all involved must have been Free. They have trained us to think this way and support their mass production... and we do. Because it is real easy to walk into Target or any other store and buy what we think we need because they have us believing we do.
Most clothing made by Corporate America is made in sweatshops. Sweatshops are factories in other countries where slave labor is used to produce large quantities of clothing and in many instances in very toxic and harsh environments. Mostly woman and children are used for this labor and in most cases they work very long hours for less payment per day than what one of those t-shirts costs Target to buy. Imagine the life in those factories... somehow I can't see that Peace Symbol or those Butterflies of Freedom really meaning much if they were created under such conditions.
Organic and Fair Trade means that the fiber, the dyes, the labor, the production and the REAL message from start to finish has both the environment and the people in mind. Sometimes they are made from sustainable resources or recycled fibers with dyes and inks that cause little to no ill effect on our environment. You may pay a few more dollars in the end... but honestly, what is the price for Freedom? Would you rather pay ten dollars less for a message that can not hold truth? Does Corporate America have you wrapped around their little finger of control so that your mind is controlled to think that you do not have a choice? That you are not more Powerful then they are? Because they rely on you... without your dollars, Sweatshops can not exist. Without your consumption they can not produce. Bret Dennen's words "Slavery is Stiched into the Fabric of my Clothes" rings in my ears... who really is the Slave?
What would happen if everyone just stopped buying clothes for a year? Surely there are enough clothes already on this planet to provide for everyone for one year...
Think before you buy and please buy consciously.
Peace Out
