Sustainable Fashion: African Visual Artist’s Contribution to the New Paradox Discussion—Case of El Anatsui as a Sustainable Thinking Agent

For more than two decades, in our current consumerism society, the issue of sustainability has established itself as one of the main paradoxes in the textile and fashion industry. Production methods and consumption habits are questioned, and various initiatives are calling to think sustainability an integral part of every company’s business strategy. In order to achieve these goals, various media are solicited to influence the wide variety of actors in the value chain of these industries, to inscribe their actions in this new paradigm. Among these media, contemporary art seems, more and more, to act as emerging potential, in that it constitutes a powerful way to shape societal conceptions. Indeed several contemporary artists and designers behave as change agents, practicing environmental art, which often takes into consideration the broader context of changing societal habits, the origin of the materials used. Such practices could be a real catalyst for a paradigm change. For this, It would be necessary to identify the concepts and mechanisms mobilized by the artists to convey successfully these sustainability values. To do this, in exploratory research, we have studied the case of the Ghanaian world-famous artist, El Anatsui, as well as the impact of his work on different types of actors in the global fashion industry. The results of this case study could be the basis for larger work, which can help accelerate the fashion industry’s green transition.