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TRASHY STATEMENTS
Artist uses fashion to clean neglected neighborhood
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By Rohan Mascarenhas
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This season, trash is the new pink, and it makes a great fashion statement.
Fed-up with the level of trash in her neighborhood, Brooklyn-based artist Gertrude Berg decided to film her own unique way of trash collection, turning the dirtiest job into a performance art piece about luxury, waste, and apathy.
Sporting her best miniskirt and a pair of modified stilettos, Berg walked the streets of Bushwick, tacking trash onto her heels as she went along her day. The resulting video, called "Pick-Up Artist," evokes pure farce, as Berg starts to lose her balance with more and more trash under her shiny black high heels. Ironically, residents even chip in with the effort at one point.
Her chic look is deliberate. Berg hopes to deconstruct the supposed contrast between luxury consumerism and rampant waste. These two poles—the pleasure of shopping and the accompanying refuse we discard—come together in Berg's piece, nearly paralyzing her gait.
The contrasts go further. As she explains on her online project proposal, "The project will also show how fashion can move away from being a mere individual exploration to become a tool that raises awareness about a neglected neighborhood."
It's unlikely to appear on any runway, but Berg's outfit is definitely the hottest look in town.
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