2 days ago
New community exhibition at Irvine's Scottish Maritime Museum calls out fast fashion for World Ocean Day
Museum is bringing together charities, community organisations and small businesses that are already working locally to help protect the environment and reduce the impact on the planet
A thought-provoking intergenerational community exhibition challenging everyone to help look after our planet opens at the Scottish Maritime Museum on Irvine Harbourside on Saturday, June 7.
The 'Trashion' exhibition, which also celebrates World Ocean Day on Sunday, June 8, has been curated by a group from Irvine Seniors Forum and Discovery Group and Irvine Youth Legacy Centre with the support of the museum team.
The exhibition, which centres on 'fashion art' pieces created using rubbish, explores the marine pollution emergency caused by industry, fast fashion and our own personal choices and invites everyone to think about the small changes we can all make in response.
'Trashion' has been made possible by the additional support of environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful and their Our Heritage, Our Future programme.
The exhibition opening also takes place as part of the Museum's 'Dive In Day', a wider day of free activities promoting World Ocean Day, and alongside the opening of the Museum's new Summer exhibition, 'Beneath the Waves'.
Jennifer Pless, Community Engagement and Development Officer at the Scottish Maritime Museum, said: "It has been hugely rewarding to work with members of Irvine Seniors Forum and Discovery Group and Irvine Youth Legacy Centre on our latest community-led exhibition.
"The group has made a hard-hitting but encouraging and personal statement with 'Trashion'.
"Together, they took ideas and themes from the museum's maritime heritage and arts collections and added their own thoughts on climate change to create outfits that tell a story about our impact on the environment and their hope to make a difference in everyone's daily actions."
Katie O'Donnell, Communities Manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful, added: "We know that clothing is the most environmentally damaging type of household waste and our Upstream Battle campaign has highlighted the damage caused to our precious blue spaces by our consumption habits.
"We were delighted to bring our knowledge together through Our Heritage, Our Future to support the members of Irvine Seniors Forum and Discovery Group and Irvine Youth Legacy Centre to realise their vision of creating an exhibition to draw attention to the urgency of climate change, particularly in this vulnerable coastal area."
Our Heritage, Our Future is working with communities across Scotland to explore, record and protect their heritage, and to take action locally on the impacts of climate change.
Keep Scotland Beautiful worked alongside the Scottish Maritime Museum during the project to support skills development by delivering an accredited qualification in building exhibitions.
The 'Dive In Day' takes place on Saturday, June 7 from 11am until 4pm. Highlights include a sustainability fair, a pop-up repair shop and short, guided cycle tours led by Active Travel as well as free entry to the museum and the two new exhibitions, 'Beneath the Waves' and 'Trashion'.
The free Dive-in Sustainability Fair will showcase local and regional organisations, charities and small businesses advocating for the environment or using business practices that actively reduce their impact on the planet. Participants include Keep Scotland Beautiful, RSPB, Ayrshire Coastal Path and Irvine Clean Up Crew.
The Active Travel Hub will also be on hand offering short, guided cycle tours and balance bike sessions.
Visitors will also be able to bring along clothing and small electrical items to a pop-up repair shop.
The Scottish Maritime Museum has also joined the global 'Agency for World Change' initiative, a global museums initiative which invites everyone to think about the small actions they can take to protect our oceans and the planet.
During the day, and over the Summer months, visitors will be able to add their personal sustainability pledges to an 'Agency for World Change Agreement', describing how they aim to make small changes in their everyday life to live more ecologically.
'Beneath the Waves' explores the extraordinary world beneath the ocean's surface with award-winning underwater photography, exquisite marine sketches and rare Glasgow Pottery recovered from a shipwreck off Arran last year.
The exhibition has been curated in collaboration with renowned underwater photographer, marine conservationist and writer Lawson Wood; diver and maritime explorer Graeme Bruce; and Ayrshire underwater artist and writer Christina Riley.
Entry to 'Trashion', which runs until August 3, is included in museum admission.
