Rachel Breen is interested in the sewing machine as a deeply symbolic and also (im)practical object. She uses the revolving needle of her sewing machine to both draw and reimagine connections between people. Breen calls attention to the stitch as a symbol of interdependence, using it to express belief in the possibility of social change and repair. 

For the last seven years her work has examined the labor rights of garment workers. The garment industry is a nexus for many challenges of capitalism—globalization, climate crisis, racism, and labor abuse. Breen’s work seeks to remind us of the human labor present in the clothes we wear and our relationship to these workers. Her interest in labor rights stems from histories of Jewish activism in the garment industry and also her own family history as immigrants and activists.

Rachel traveled to Bangladesh in 2015 to conduct research, interviewing survivors of the Rana Plaza Factory Collapse and meeting with union organizers. Outside of the numerous garment factories were huge mounds of fabric scraps – the negative spaces of our clothes. These scraps have become iconic symbols of our connection to the people who make our clothes.

The clothes we wear and the fabric scraps Breen collected outside of garment factories in Bangladesh are intimately connected yet the connection is invisible. Complicated supply chains connect us to the labor of garment workers in Bangladesh. With her Garment Supply Chain Map “drawings” she incorporates fabric scraps from Bangladesh and reference supply chains in the form of abstract maps. These works seek to make transparent the very opaque and complex systems by which our clothes arrive to our bodies.

The garment industry is a nexus for many challenges of capitalism—globalization, climate crisis, racism, and labor abuse. Breen’s work refers to the scale of these enormous and entrenched issues, by making visible, systems that are hard to comprehend. Garment workers’ jobs have been decimated by Covid and brands have shown little concern about how their refusal to pay for cancelled orders impacts workers.  This is a critical time to address the way multinational brands privilege profit over human rights and inform American consumers about the way garment workers are treated.

Explore more of Rachel Breen’s work at: https://rachelbreenart.com/