A stop-motion image of ocean surf is accompanied by an ambient soundtrack, Kira Rubiano ’26 narrates: “Buying a piece of clothing may seem like a harmless act, but according to the United Nations, textile production is estimated to be responsible for 20 percent of the global clean water pollution.”
The 90-second video plays on a loop with others like it at the TCNJ Art Gallery. The student videos accompanied the main exhibit, “Unraveling Threads: Climate, Labor, and the Clothes We Wear,” featuring the work of Minnesota-based textile artist Rachel Breen.
The videos were produced by TCNJ students as part of a collaboration examining the global fashion industry. Students in Kathleen Webber’s journalism class on health and environmental reporting worked with peers in a motion graphics course headed by Sorraya Brashear-Evans ’16 to create short animations addressing topics including industrial pollution and waste, fast fashion, and child labor.
“Art is such a powerful tool for activism,” Rubiano said, an environmental studies major and fine art minor. “It was the perfect marrying of all the things I care about.”
Gallery curator Margaret Pezalla-Granlund originally reached out to Webber, who has written on the garment industry in the past. Early on, students met with Breen over video chat and discussed how her conversations with survivors of the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh shaped her work. After picking their topics, the journalism students wrote several research-based articles before collaborating with the design students to produce the videos, modeled after explainer videos popular on Vox and YouTube.
“They learned a lot about the industry from a social and environmental standpoint, as well as learning how to communicate with another class,” Webber said.
Public health and environmental studies student Usma Lateef ’27, for example, wrote about corruption in garment factory inspections, which can lead to industrial accidents. Working towards the exhibition, she said, “motivated me to write about topics in a way that others could learn from them as well.”
Rubiano collaborated with Shaiyma Rasheed ’27, a graphic design student with a marketing minor, to brainstorm visuals that would go with her research on pollution caused by toxic dyes. Rasheed settled on using screenshots of clothing animated in a choppy stop-motion style to mimic the handmade quality of making garments. She chose music and colors to balance the seriousness of the issue with the need to engage audiences.
“I didn’t want to go for something too vibrant or upbeat, considering the messaging,” she said, “but I did want something calming that would keep attention.”
The project gave design students a taste of working with a client to bring their vision to life, Brashear-Evans said.
“Professional artists need to know how to communicate to ensure a collaborative process, so everybody has a hand in making it look good,” she said.
The exhibit professionally presents the student papers alongside Breen’s artwork, as well as screens showing the videos inside and outside the gallery. Students have also participated in programming including a patch-making workshop, creation of a climate quilt, and a pop-up thrift store. The experience not only taught them how to effectively communicate ideas, but also gave them pride in conveying important social topics to the campus community.
“When you’re in a class, your work only gets seen by so many eyes,” said Rubiano, who aims to produce graphic journalism on environmental issues after graduation. “The fact it’s educating so many people in the gallery is super exciting.”
— Michael Blanding