Dead White Man

UK, 2023. Director Jeremy Hutchison. 7min.

In his ongoing research project, artist Jeremy Hutchison employs performance, sculpture and photography to remind us of the 24 billion garments that enter the second-hand clothing market each year. In this short film – which is laced with dry humour, and a foreboding soundtrack – Hutchison’s own white, male, Western consumer body is festooned in sculptures made from such discarded clothes. He waddles through the streets of Dakar before finding his way into a shipping container and re-emerges in the City of London. The title of the project comes from the Ghanaian ‘obroni wawu’ which directly translates as ‘Dead White Men’s Clothes’. Against the mountains of textile waste that have created new geographies across the African continent, Hutchison hijacks the seductive air of glossy fashion editorials and the perverse bricolage of contemporary art and uncovers the grim failure of capitalism.  

Past screenings

Grounded: Fashion’s Entanglements with Nature – UK Tour
Saturday 6 September 2025, 15:00 | Watershed, Bristol
Presented as a part of the programme ‘Ready-to-Wear Landscapes’.