Robyn Woolston

‘The Waste’ (2012)

- An 8hr performative intervention into the fabric of Whitechapel, London.

Lasting the length of an average working day, the performance installation uses waste threads that mirror the colours commonly used within a ‘refugee bag’: A utilitarian carrying device made from cheap, nylon threads weaved together.

The work acts as a transient and performative meditation upon belonging, migration, immigration, waste, and linear narratives against the context of a busy arterial road.

Whilst at the same time referencing the multi-linear history of textiles in the East End and the deeply influential impact of the Huguenot, Jewish, and now, Bangladeshi migrant population.

The installation was commissioned as part of DRESS CODE: A collaborative project with UHC, UnitX / Manchester Met University, High Street 2012 / Whitechapel & supported by a partnership of local authorities, national bodies and Olympics agencies, including the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London.