Henrietta Elfström Berg

Waste material is considered dead according to the logic of industrial production, but in my hands and through my care it gets a second life. My degree project began with waste material from linen factories in Sweden. By using natural dyes, the scraps get a new colour and a new life on the loom. The waste comes back to life as zombies reminding us of wasted ecological resources, labour, and materials.

The metaphor of the zombie has been used over and over again to describe a fear of others, ourselves, and the natural world. In my weaves, it helps to bring out the dark emotions brought on by climate change. Its undead nature illustrates the uncertainty of waste; it exists in a limbo between life and death.

I welcome the zombies as an undead resistance to the exploitative textile industry, which treats both materials and humans with disregard. There is hope that by going into the darkness, we can envision something better than the ashes that are left when everything has been burnt.