Ghosts of Svalbard
Natasha Alia
Ghosts of Svalbard is inspired by my travels to Svalbard, a glacial island located north of the Arctic Circle border, and centers around the idea of invasion. Our decisions as consumers here in New York travel to Svalbard, transforming us into unintentional intruders, marking an otherwise untouched landscape and leaving an impact with consequences far beyond our immediate knowledge. The shadows of our decisions populate this glacial space, altering the environment and impacting the wildlife. These shadows are our ghosts.
This illustrated documentary is one part of a larger womenswear brand, and records the journey, thought process, and essence which informs my womenswear collection. It laments upon ghostly human action and the environmental reaction, and by documenting my journey through photography and juxtaposing scientific excerpts alongside that imagery, a dual reality is created, one that reveals what is seen and what is unseen. Alongside that which is factual is the fictional, as a narrative, written as a monologue by the very ghosts that have invaded this terrain, weaves throughout the book. By intertwining this third stream of information, multiple realities have emerged, acting as a commentary, both visual and textual, on how our choices and non-choices transform us into indirect, clumsy intruders, ghosts who inhabit the uninhabitable. By designing such agency for the bold consumer, the goal is to generate awareness through design that ultimately launches an initiative to incorporate conscientious considerations in our consumer choices.