Rana Plaza Sculpture

Remember Rana Plaza, a sculpture by Meea may Symonds to commemorate the Rana Plaza disaster. On the 24 th April 2013, an eight-storey clothing factory called Rana Plaza collapsed, in Dakar, Bangladesh, killing 1,100 people and injuring 2500 more, often with lifelong injuries. The rana plaza building contained 5 clothing factories with 4000 workers producing the cheap, fast fashion that we see on out high streets, The building had not been designed for industry, it had in fact been made for shops and offices. Furthermore it had 4 stories added to the original building without the correct permits. The structural collapse of Rana Plaza was a result of the failures of the fast fashion industry, and it was those at the bottom of the supply chain that paid the price and were killed and injured that day. Remember Rana Plaza was made to commemorate those that died that day but also to reignite debate around the causes of this tragic event and to make us reflect on what has and what hasn’t changed in the last ten years. What are you wearing now? Do you know where your clothes have come from? Have those that made them been treated in the right way? This sculpture by ‘meea’ may Symonds merges both concrete and textiles, the core materials that envelope this historic tragedy and it considers the relationship between the factories’ material foundations and the impact on the lives of those that ultimately lay trapped between them. It was commissioned by Sunny Bank Mills and is now a permanent installation on this site, the Weavers’ Lawn.