Joanna Edwards celebrates a patchwork pride flag. Originally created to communicate queer identity and protest the oppression of queer communities, its different fabrics represent the Anthropocene’s colonial and industrial history, the rise of fast fashion and rejection of the Earth’s innate queerness by dominating its processes to maximise human gain.
Museum of the Anthropocene: Patchwork Pride Flag
This pride flag was stitched together from numerous fabrics and old clothes for the purpose of communicating my queer identity and to protest the continued oppression of queer communities in modern society. It provides a unique representation of the Anthropocene not only through the history of the numerous fabrics stitched of its body but also through its purpose of communicating anger at the continued rejection of queerness.
The most abundant fabric stitched into this flag is cotton, which has been vital in the development of the Anthropocene as it was the key product that financed the UK’s industrial revolution. Cotton grown in what some historians call ghost hectares within British colonies provided the capital for 40% of the UK’s commercial and industrial investment. Without this stolen land from colonies, the UK wouldn’t have been able to produce nearly the same amount of cotton cloth, helping to show how colonisation and slavery underpin the modern-day Anthropocene.
This overexploitation of land for cotton plantations worked against the inherent queerness of nature, as it reduced complex ecosystems into large, controlled monocultures. This had large environmental consequences for Britain’s colonies, as the high water use of cotton plantations led to the draining of aquifers and wetlands. In the present day, monocultures of cotton consume large amounts of artificial fertiliser to grow a significant yield, which leaches into local waterways, resulting in eutrophication.
The historical intensification of cotton production also simplified labour from a complicated, collaborative artform to a streamlined controlled process that worked against the natural chaotic, queer way that people create. To minimise production costs, workers growing and processing the cotton were subjected to long working hours in violent conditions, resulting in growing public upset. In Britain, the Luddites, followers of Ned Ludd, protested the unfair treatment of factory workers by smashing up cotton factories to demand higher wages and to protect artisanal industries. In response, wealthy factory owners merely transitioned to coal-powered machines to reduce the manpower needed, rather than increasing wages. This shows how the story of the Anthropocene is largely that of the conflict between wealthy business owners and working people.
In the modern day, the fabric industry has largely transitioned to oil-based fabrics such as polyester, which are also included in this flag. The relative cheapness of polyester allows vast amounts to be produced and made into clothing very quickly. This has resulted in the clothing market having an incredibly fast turnover of products, fuelling fast-changing tastes — a phenomenon known as fast fashion. This model of consumption undermines the innate queerness and creativity of humans as it encourages us all to look the same.
This fast turnover relies on cheaply made garments, which are commonly produced in ex-colonies by individuals working in poor working conditions for very low wages, similar to the earlier industrial production of cotton cloth. The cheap overproduction of fabric has also caused widespread environmental devastation, from the drilling of oil to produce the fabric, to the improper disposal of toxic dyes polluting waterways. There have been numerous public protests against both the social and environmental harm caused by the fast fashion industry. For example, the youth-led UK campaign Unravelled aims to end the overconsumption of fabric through community-based education. This emphasises the role of the public in shaping the Anthropocene through protest.
Although this flag was originally stitched by me to protest the continued discrimination of queer individuals in modern society, it has also provided a unique representation of the Anthropocene through the different fabrics stitched into its body. It has allowed exploration into the colonial and industrial history of cotton and the rise of fast fashion, while incorporating concepts from queer ecology. It suggests the Anthropocene is characterised by humans’ rejection of the Earth’s innate queerness by dominating and streamlining its processes to maximise human gain.
Notes
For an introduction to the concepts of Queer Ecology see this short piece by Ingrid Bååth for creative studio and action hub ClimateCulture (no relation to ClimateCultures, but great to see a good name echoed!)