Photographer Muntaka Chasant documented thousands of clothes washed up on a beach in Africa, revealing the environmental impact of fast fashion.
Chasant says Petpaxel As he took a “beat” from the storm in Ghana to take powerful and interesting photographs.
“I had to get in the water to capture most of the scenes,” Chassant explained.
“Documenting discarded unwanted clothing is my long-term focus on the geography of waste – fast fashion to highlight the environmental cost and burden.”
The harrowing images, taken in Ghana’s capital Accra, show giant clothes strewn on the sand. Many of the goods are believed to have been imported from the United States and England, as well as other wealthy countries.
Ghana is home to a thriving second-hand clothing industry, where unwanted Western clothes are sent for sale and resale – but the African country is now struggling to cope with the demand.
The clothes, locally translated as “Obroni Wau”, which translates to “dead white clothes”, are donated by well-intentioned Westerners and accepted by locals in the hope that they will find some good quality finds. Anything that cannot be sold is dumped on the banks of the Odau River, which is unfortunately synonymous with pollution.
40 percent of the discarded clothes that arrive in the West African state are thrown away this way and the problem is getting worse, because novelty “one-off” clothes and low-quality fast fashion items are increasing. It also affected Ghana’s textile and design sectors as they could not compete with cheaper clothing imported from overseas.
Local photographer
Chasant is paired with a DJI Air 2 and Sony a7 III with 24-105mm f/4 for aerial photos.
The Ghana-based documentary photographer focuses on “urban heterogeneity, waste geographies, human-environment interactions and new and emerging challenges.” It focuses on the city of Accra, showing the world the pollution in areas such as Lake Korle where thousands of single-use plastic wastes are dumped into the ocean.
Visit Chasant’s website to see more of his work.
Image Credits: All photos by Muntaka Chasant
