The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMΣΤ) and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) present the outdoor installation Return to Sender by the Nairobi-based collective Nest. The installation, realized as part of documenta fifteen 2022, will be on view on the SNFCC’s central esplanade from April 26 to September 30, 2023.
Return to Sender alludes to a dystopian waste landscape: The work references consumer societies in industrialized countries alike as it highlights the negative impact of the used clothing industry on local economies in Kenya and other parts of Africa. Up to 40 percent of a bale of imported secondhand clothing is completely unusable and ends up directly in landfills, an immense risk for the people who have to purchase the bales sight unseen and earn a living with it.
