Nigerian artist Solomon Chidinma (social account @jachi_gallerie) pointed out in a video posted on TikTok that discarded clothing does not truly disappear: some ends up in landfills, some is incinerated, and some scatters into the surrounding environment. He collects these discarded textiles and transforms them into large-scale artworks exploring themes such as emotion, identity, and the human experience. Chidinma says he hopes to use art to redefine the possibilities of textile waste—"what we throw away still has a story to tell."

Key Points

  • Nigerian artist Solomon Chidinma (@jachi_gallerie) collects discarded textiles to create large-scale installation art.
  • His video lists the main destinations of old clothes: landfill, incineration, and scattering into the environment.
  • The core claim of the project is to redefine textile waste from "garbage" into a creative medium capable of carrying narratives of emotion and identity.

Creation using waste as raw material turns textile waste from a concealed environmental problem into a visible, touchable entity related to human choices. The article also offers personal paths to reducing textile waste: buy fewer clothes and prioritize more durable styles; repairing damaged clothing, swapping with friends, thrifting, and reprocessing old fabrics at home can all extend the lifespan of textiles.

On where old clothes go, the article suggests making more careful choices than "throwing everything into the trash": donation centers, local textile recycling programs, and community reuse organizations may be more suitable outlets, but whether these channels are available depends on your region.

From an industry perspective, this kind of creation pushes the often-overlooked stage of "the endpoint of old clothes" into the public eye, echoing the same issues faced by resale and textile recycling systems: what truly determines the fate of old clothes is not only processing technology, but also purchasing frequency and disposal methods on the consumer side.

Source: Artist turns discarded textiles into large-scale art, saying waste still has 'a story to tell' · Originally published on 2026-10-06