Step into Return to Sender, an eye-opening installation by Kenya’s The Nest Collective, built from 50 tonnes of second-hand clothes. This powerful artwork confronts you with grotesque visual images of waste landscapes—scenes all too common in low-income countries—while urging you to reconsider the true impact of our consumption habits.
Return to Sender serves as a powerful reminder of the unchecked consumption in the Global North and the profound harm it inflicts in the Global South, where much of the 92 million tons of fabric and textile waste is sent each year.
Inside this patchwork landscape of second-hand garments, known as ‘mitumba’ in Kenya, the you’ll encounter the work Delivery Details – a video installation featuring footage from Dandora dumpsite and Gikomba (the largest second-hand market in Africa), Meanwhile, The Nest Collective will unpack the negative impacts of the second-hand clothing industry.
The Nest Collective advocates for a circular economy as the solution, promoting conscious consumption, reduced textile waste, and extended lifecycle and recyclability of clothing.
Founded in 2012, the Nest Collective is a space for exploration, curiosity, and critical inquiry. Through mediums like film, music, fashion, visual arts, and literature, the collective challenges norms and imagines new, more equitable realities. Notable projects include the acclaimed 2014 queer anthology film Stories of Our Lives. In 2018, they launched the Strictly Silk program, a vibrant dance party and multimedia space celebrating joy and fostering community for women and non-binary people. The collective members live and work in Nairobi, Kenya.