Articles of Displacement is a naturally-dyed fashion collection that is part of the 2022 CCA Biennial and will be modeled live for this event. The collection will be on display through Oct. 21, 2022. 

How will relationships to plants, place, family, community, and nation shift as populations are forced into motion by climate change? What becomes of local communities, ideas about naturalization and Indigeneity, social and cultural identities, and at a fundamental level, connections to landscapes, atmospheric conditions, seasonal cycles, and shared environments with flora and fauna? Denise Nicole Green approaches the Biennial theme of “Futurities, Uncertain” by designing a naturally dyed fashion collection that challenges some of the colonial and capitalist regimes that have produced the global climate crisis: industrialization of fiber production through large scale agriculture, corporate chemical engineering, synthetic dyeing and printing processes, and the mass-manufacture of clothing. In Green’s work, bio-based dyestuffs guide the textile design process; garments follow in response to anticipated environmental conditions, bodily movement, and desires of the wearer. She uses food waste, invasive species, plant pests, local fauna, and dyestuffs grown in small gardens to print and dye two different polyamides: silk and nylon. While these fibers share similar chemistry, their production and impact on the environment is dramatically different.  Petroleum-based nylon was the first commercially successful thermoplastic polymer and shaped the landscape of industrial manufacturing in the mid-20^thcentury. Blending nylon with spandex accelerated the growth of activewear apparel since the 1970s. Unlike silk, which is easily weakened by UV light, heat, and abrasion, nylon is one of the most durable fibers. By using one of the culprits of climate change, the collection addresses the inescapability of industrial capitalism’s penumbra and the products innovated under these regimes. Dressing for the uncertainties that changing weather patterns, altered landscapes, and shifting communities pose will require a new approach to design that centers longevity, multi-functionality, self-determination, desire, and delight. By rebuilding connections to plants and other raw materials required for dyeing, creating inter-reliant systems of production through co-design, and employing some of the products of the plight, Green has created a collection that imagines a future where design is a collective, material, embodied, inter-species, place-making, and community-creating endeavor.