Paper Bag Africa

15/04/2026

07/04/2026

presents The Water & Oil Collection, curated by

THEME: Municipal Waste Pollution - |

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06/04/2026

💧 presents The Water & Oil Collection, curated by

THEME: Municipal Waste Pollution - |

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The avante garde dress tells a story of the causes and effects of municipal waste pollution

📌 Public Health Crises: Raw sewage discharge into water bodies causing frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera.

📌 Most of the boreholes in some areas are contaminated with coliforms.

📌 Destruction of Aquatic Ecosystems: High levels of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from sewage lead to excessive algal blooms and water hyacinth growth, causing severe eutrophication in water bodies like Lake Chivero . This reduces oxygen levels, causing “fish kills” and reducing biodiversity.

📌 Contamination of Drinking Water Sources: The contamination of major water sources, such as Lake Chivero (Harare’s main water supply), makes water treatment difficult and expensive, resulting in limited potable water supply.

📌 Impact on Agriculture and Livestock: Wastewater containing heavy metals (like Cu, Zn, Cd) and pathogens is used for irrigation, leading to soil contamination and producing unsafe crops. Contaminated water is also responsible for killing livestock on the outskirts of cities.

📌 Groundwater Contamination: Poor sewage management and leakage lead to the contamination of groundwater, making boreholes—often used as alternative water sources unsafe.

📌 Operational Overload: Sewage treatment plants in major cities like Harare and Kwekwe are overloaded, obsolete, or non-functional, resulting in the direct release of partially treated or raw sewage into water systems.

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05/04/2026

The Water & Oil Collection 🇿🇼

👗Acid Mine Drainage - |

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05/04/2026

💧 presents The Water & Oil Collection, curated by

THEME: Acid Mine Drainage - |

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Acid mine drainage happens when water and air hit old rocks from mining, creating a harmful acid that leaks into nearby rivers. This acid kills fish and plants and makes the water unsafe for people to drink or use. To help, we can use limestone to clean the water and seal up old mines to keep the water from getting out.

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04/04/2026

💧The Water & Oil Collection 🇿🇼

👗Agricultural Pollution - |

DESIGNER: .zw
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03/04/2026

💧 presents The Water & Oil Collection, curated by

THEME: Agricultural Pollution - |

DESIGNER: .zw
MODEL:

This garment serves as a poignant critique of the hidden environmental costs of perceived prosperity, juxtaposing outward beauty with the underlying reality of agricultural depletion. Through a softened corset that mimics a deceptive harmony between humanity and nature, and a subtle plastic waist accessory representing the normalization of pollution, the piece explores how contamination becomes embedded within our systems. The ruffled brown skirt acts as the emotional anchor, using its expansive volume to mask a narrative of overworked, exhausted soil. Ultimately, the ensemble challenges the celebration of industrial growth by exposing the “quiet contradiction” where aesthetic abundance masks systemic decay and invisible ecological damage.

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02/04/2026

💧The Water & Oil Collection 🇿🇼

👗Womens Health & Water Pollution - |

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02/04/2026

💧 presents The Water & Oil Collection, curated by

THEME: Womens Health & Water Pollution - |

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Artist Statement: The Worn-Out Bride

The garment embodies the silent suffering of women under the weight of water pollution. At its core stands a worn‑out bride, her trail unraveling into a visual timeline of water’s gradual contamination. Each stage of the trail reveals the creeping toxicity that infiltrates communities, homes, and bodies—transforming what should be life‑giving into a source of harm.

Embedded within the trail are pads and panty liners inscribed with the plea “Save Us.” These intimate objects, usually hidden, are brought into the open to confront how polluted water directly affects women’s reproductive health. They speak to the vulnerability of wombs exposed to toxins, to the miscarriages endured, and to the rising threat of breast cancer linked to environmental degradation.

At the heart of the garment lies a vivid red womb, a stark symbol of pain and loss. It is both a cry for recognition and a reminder of the invisible battles women fight when water—the essence of survival—becomes poisoned.

Around the bride’s neck, phone cables coil tightly, representing the suffocating grip of pollution. They are cords of modernity turned into shackles, choking women’s voices, bodies, and futures. The cables remind us that technological progress without environmental responsibility can strangle rather than liberate.

This garment is not just fashion—it is testimony. It is a protest stitched in fabric, a demand for justice, and a call to protect the most fundamental resource of life. Through the worn‑out bride, the piece mourns, resists, and insists: women’s health, dignity, and survival must never be sacrificed to polluted waters.

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01/04/2026

💧The Water & Oil Collection 🇿🇼

👗Industrial & Thermal Pollution - |

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01/04/2026

💧 presents The Water & Oil Collection, curated by

THEME: Industrial & Thermal Pollution - |

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ℹ️ This garment serves as a visceral visual narrative of the silent crisis defining our era: industrial and thermal pollution. A foundation of profound blue evokes the essence of water - once a pristine life force, now increasingly burdened by the weight of human activity. This serenity is artfully disrupted by aggressive strokes of black and red, a chromatic dialogue representing toxic leakages, chemical runoff, and the feverish rise of temperatures fueled by industrial discharge. The resulting interplay captures the escalating tension between nature and industry, where the purity of the blue struggles against an encroaching darkness. While the black evokes the suffocating reality of oil and soot, the red pulses with the urgency of heat and irreversible harm. It is a piece that demands emotional engagement, transforming environmental consequence into a haunting, wearable warning against the toll of unchecked growth.

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