Abstract: This paper employs critical discourse analysis and environmental communication theories to examine how wearable art projects like Trashion Fashion and Wan Yunfeng’s plastic couture function as forms of material rhetoric and ecological activism. Drawing on theories of object-oriented ontology (Harman, 2018), waste studies (Hawkins, 2006), and visual rhetoric (Finnegan, 2001), we argue that these interventions perform three crucial functions: They materialize the abstract concept of waste pollution; Creating affective encounters that disrupt consumption habits; Reconfiguring human-waste relationships through aesthetic transformation. Our analysis reveals how these projects operate within what Bennett (2010) calls “vibrant matter” to challenge neoliberal waste regimes while offering new paradigms for sustainable engagement.
Key Words: Waste Aesthetics; Material Rhetoric; Eco-Fashion Activism; Object-Oriented Ontology; Affective Ecology; Upcycling Art.
