Re-(t)exHile exposes textile dumping in Nigeria through okrika, transforming waste into ecological critique and social testimony

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).

Re-(t)exHile * Stories of Waste and Resilience * LAGOS, NIGERIA * ART and ARCHITECTURE Biennial

In the bustling heart of Lagos, Nigeria, the 4th Lagos Art and Architecture Biennial unfolded from February 3 to 10, 2024, transforming Tafawa Balewa Square—a site steeped in colonial history as a former racecourse turned post-independence civic hub—into a vibrant arena for reflection on sovereignty, belonging, and alliance. Curated by Folakunle Oshun and Kathryn Weir, this edition, themed "Refuge," eschewed traditional exhibition formats in favor of dynamic, process-oriented interventions that spark ongoing dialogues rather than static displays. Amid this experimental landscape, the relational installation re-(t)exHile emerged as a poignant critique of global textile waste, postcolonial economies, and environmental violence, weaving discarded fabrics into a tapestry of exile and repair. Conceived as an ongoing project (2024–present), re-(t)exHile traces the shadowy journeys of secondhand clothing from the Global North to African markets, where they embody both economic lifelines and ecological burdens. Collaboratively crafted by artists Martinka Bobrikova, Óscar De Carmen, Adebola Badmus, María Alejandra Gatti, and Anto Lloveras, the work draws from extensive field research in Lagos (2022–2023), including site visits to textile dumps and markets. Photographic archives by Mide King capture the raw materiality of these streams, while digital storytelling via social media reels and blogs amplifies voices from the margins. At the Biennial, the installation materialized as ephemeral structures: migrant textiles draped over found debris, forming a "living document" that stitches together narratives of displacement, memory, and resistance.

FILM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgUK2ppLQbE&t=12s

The project's site-specific resonance at Tafawa Balewa Square amplifies its themes. Once a symbol of colonial leisure, the square now hosts civic gatherings, mirroring how discarded cloths—remnants of fast fashion's overproduction—reclaim space in Lagos's informal economies. Re-(t)exHile invites interaction, blurring lines between art, activism, and archive. Visitors navigate the pavilion, encountering layers of postcolonial trauma: fabrics as carriers of "material memory," evoking forced migrations and environmental degradation. As Lloveras notes in his blog reflections, the work resists closure, evolving through collaborations and public engagements, much like the Biennial's generative ethos. Beyond aesthetics, re-(t)exHile confronts urgent realities. In Lagos, where secondhand markets thrive amid waste crises, it highlights how global capitalism dumps its excesses on the South, perpetuating cycles of exploitation. Yet, it offers hope through "repair"—reimagining waste as refuge, fostering alliances across borders. Featured in outlets like The Guardian Nigeria, the installation underscores art's role in illuminating overlooked economies and sparking ecological justice. This polyphonic intervention exemplifies how contemporary art can activate possibilities in a fractured world. As the Biennial challenges "universal" exhibition models, re-(t)exHile stands as a critical fabric, mending the tears of history while questioning futures of sustainability and solidarity. In an era of accelerating waste, it reminds us: refuge lies in the threads we choose to weave.

HIDDEN FORCES:::::::::::::::::::NO TAG_________________SUPREMATISM AND DUNES_____________________ CÁDIZ 2019

Along the windswept periphery of Cádiz, an ordinary beach barrier becomes the site of a discreet yet poetic intervention, where a black identification tag is carefully removed, revealing instead a white monochrome that resonates with the tonal palette of the surrounding sand and sea mist, subtly merging the sculptural object into the larger coastal tableau. This gesture, minimalist in form yet conceptually dense, operates within the logic of hidden works, those that do not impose but instead recede into the environment, altering it through near-invisibility rather than spectacle. As a fleeting manifestation of Suprematism in the dunes, the altered barrier proposes a radical rethinking of public space aesthetics, where utility yields to quiet abstraction and signage becomes silence. This act, seemingly minor, challenges the ubiquity of functional signage by turning it into an unannounced artwork, a monochromatic fragment of a larger, unseen composition that stretches across the coastal scape. Echoing the lineage of non-objective art, the work privileges sensation over message, offering a contemplative loop in which form and context coalesce. Captured in a 60-second video loop, exhibited at LAPIEZA GALLERY, this piece is not only a film but a site-specific meditation, anchored in the supernatural atmosphere of Cádiz, where dunes act as a canvas and the wind becomes a collaborator. The viewer is invited not just to see but to sense the shift—an ephemeral artwork that leaves behind no plaque, only a pause in the landscape, an environmental punctuation that briefly renders the everyday extraordinary.

Make a better environment. 
The black tag is removed, generating a pleasant white rectangle instead. 
Suprematism in the dunes. 

FILM 60 SECONDS LOOP. HD VIDEO. LAPIEZA GALLERY. 
CÁDIZ SUPERNATURAL.

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