Panel: Waste Not, Want Not – Conversations on Sustainable Clothing
Featuring: Kimberly McGlonn (Grant Blvd) + Kirsty Robertson (Synthetic Collective)
Wednesday, February 10, 2021 | 5:30-7pm EST on Zoom
Presented as part of Please Save Our Earth! : How to Wear Out Climate Change
Organized by Black Box Curatorial Fellow Sarah Kim
Free to Attend | RSVP Required
Register on EventBrite
About the Event
As planetary resources decline, the ways that we allocate them grow ever more significant. What does that mean when the USA throws away 14 millions tons of clothing every year – and it takes 2,700 liters of water to produce one cotton shirt? Join Kimberly McGlonn of Grant Blvd, Kirsty Robertson of Synthetic Collective and moderator Lucia Alber as they discuss the clothing and textile industries’ environmental impact and the ways we can imagine sustainability in fashion.
This panel will take place on Zoom and will be free to the public. There will be a recording of the panel available for those who cannot attend.
About the Panelists
Kimberly McGlonn
Dr. Kimberly McGlonn grew up in Milwaukee, the daughter of justice activists on the Northside. Her 18 years of experience as a teacher of world literature (colonialism) & marginalization in the American story and her ongoing service as a Councilwoman in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, have all shaped her insights into social & environmental justice. In 2017, she launched Grant Blvd, a Philadelphia-based, women-owned & family-operated start-up committed to creating fair wage employment opportunities in sustainable fashion for marginalized folks, particularly those who have an experience with incarceration. Her guiding mission is to advocate for not only the historically and currently marginalized, but for the preservation of our planet. Her work is rooted in leveraging her talents and insights in order to promote conscious consumption and to innovate sustainable strategies. Of her diverse skills, Kimberly is an experienced creative strategist, brand manager, and curator of radically inclusive teams.
More Info: kimberlymcglonn.com | grantblvd.com
Kirsty Robertson
Kirsty Robertson is Associate Professor of Contemporary Art and Director of Museum and Curatorial Studies at Western University, Canada (London, Ontario). Her pedagogy involves curating large-scale speculative and experimental exhibitions with students. She has published widely on activism, visual culture and museums; her award-winning book, Tear Gas Epiphanies: Protest, Museums, Culture was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in May 2019. Her work on museums has expanded into small and micro-collections that repurpose traditional museum formats for critical and politically radical projects. In addition, Robertson is a founding member of the Synthetic Collective, a group of artists, scientists and cultural researchers working on plastics pollution in the Great Lakes Region and project co-lead on A Museum for Future Fossils, an ongoing project focused on responding curatorially to ecological crisis. She has written extensively on textiles and technology, on craftivism, and is currently researching petrotextiles.
More Info: kirstymairirobertson.com | syntheticcollective.org | museumforfuturefossils.com
Lucia Alber is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Philadelphia. Her work combines sculptural and fiber processes to create detailed installations and immersive interiors. She has recently been exploring the intersection between food and heritage by sewing non-traditional materials such as food labels and boxes, repurposing them to create textiles. Alber is currently an artist member of Vox Populi and will be showing new work in June 2021.
More Info: luciaalber.com
This program is supported in part by the Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant.
