Caguwa Afreeka: Guardians of the garden

(/... /Swahili, Rwanda • pronounced {Tcha-Ku-Wa}) refers to clothing and shoes donated and imported from Europe that have become a multi-million dollar second-hand industry on the African continent. The word means Choose, characterized by the insurmountable amount of clothes entering the marketplace where consumers can pick from the litter of unwanted garments from first-world countries at a fraction of the original price.

In his exchange residency project, inspired in part by a conversation with Rwandan designer Eli, Maela uses the ideology of Caguwa and its consequences on the growth of Africa as a metaphor for our relationship with the environment and its implications on our well-being, spiritually, mentally and otherwise.