In northern Chile, the textile industry is ravaging the Atacama Desert. The Tarapacá region has one of the largest clothing landfills in the world. There, mountains and mountains of clothing are found, turning Alto Hospicio into a textile waste dump.
All photos by Mateo Barrenengoa . Patagonia.
Most of the clothing comes mainly from the United States, Europe and Asia, where the owners dispose of the items, which are then shipped and sent to Chile. Normally, the main entry point is the port of Iquique. Once they arrive in the country, second-hand merchants choose what they want to sell, and what they don't choose goes to Alto Hospicio, a commune devastated by tons and tons of clothing. There, the clothing is illegally scattered, buried or even dispersed in micro-dumps that will later be burned to leave no trace of the clothing.
But a resilient community is transforming a reality of waste into opportunity. One of the people who are part of this community is Angela, a young designer and textile recycler who has found a vision of change where the rest of the world sees waste.
After spending years rummaging through used clothing cemeteries, Angela has a keen eye for finding treasures that she will later use for her creations. She finds inspiring colors and textures of fabrics - materials for her work. When she leaves the landfill with the clothes she has collected, Angela already imagines backpacks, bags and garments that she will make in her workshop.
Creating clothes from recycled textiles has helped Angela raise awareness about the problem and promote environmental education in the region. Ultimately, it is a form of activism with which she aims to change the perspective on clothing consumption and waste management. Where most of us see an impossible reality, she sees a new perspective to transform reality. You can read more about this story at this link .
All photos by Mateo Barrenengoa . Patagonia.
