Re-(t)exHile, presented at the 4th Lagos Biennial with DSA Lagos, articulates textile waste as an urgent theatre of ecological injustice, where second-hand garments become evidence of unequal global consumption rather than benign charity. Conceived by four international artists in collaboration with designer Adebola Badmus, the pavilion transformed colourful okirika into a stitched marquee, converting discarded clothing into an immersive architectural indictment. Its conceptual force lies in exposing how Western overproduction migrates materially into Nigerian markets, landscapes and communities, producing both environmental burden and cultural distortion. Maria Alejandra Gatti’s long-term exploration of refuge and textiles, Martinka Bobrikova’s emphasis on Nigerian urgency, and Oscar de Carmen’s critique of Western consumerism converge in a case study of waste colonialism: the garment, once intimate, becomes geopolitical residue. The work’s significance therefore exceeds aesthetic spectacle; it stages a public pedagogy in which visitors confront the hidden afterlife of fashion. Ultimately, Re-(t)exHile insists that Nigeria is not a receptacle for excess, but a site from which new ethical vocabularies of production, disposal and planetary responsibility must be articulated. Oladimeji, D. (2024) ‘Artists illuminate environmental implications of textile waste at the refuge’, The Guardian Nigeria, 25 February. Available at: https://guardian.ng/art/artists-illuminate-environmental-implications-of-textile-waste-at-the-refuge/ (Accessed: 26 April 2026).
