This embroidered silk scarf depicts the sugarcane fields in the flood plains of the White Nile. The land shown is in South Sudan, the world’s fifth most vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change.
The scarf was created by sustainable designer Lucy Tammam, who hopes to raise awareness about the threat of climate change with her atelier’s work.
Collaboration with the European Space Agency
The scarf, a collaboration with the European Space Agency, uses satellite imagery for its design, combining the near-infrared channels of three separate images (Copernicus Sentinel data (2020-21), processed by ESA CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO).
Satellite imagery has become an important tool for cartography and geography. Research using these images, and research focused on climate change, features in the Society’s publications.
Sustainable fashion and the threat of climate change
This scarf is hand embroidered and features peace silk, a silk where the moths have been allowed to fly away before the fibre is processed.
Sugarcane production is an intensive agricultural and industrial practice. The fields shown in yellow belong to the Kenana Sugarcane Company, Africa’s largest sugarcane industrial complex. Across the world, land devoted to sugarcane production is increasing to meet demand for sugar and biofuel.
Tammam exhibited this and other scarves in the same series at the Society from February to April 2024. In addition, the exhibition featured ‘One Dress,’ a collective couture project meant to commemorate the role of women in textile history as well as highlight the work of female artisans practicing today.
Tammam donated the scarf to the Society following the closing of the exhibition.
Further reading
Cunliffe, Jordan. Record, Map and Capture in Textile Art: Data visualization in cloth and stitch. London: Batsford, 2022.