The minds behind the fundraiser (which features works by Inez & Vinoodh and Campbell Addy) explain how and why “Dust Off” came about.
Baby-faced Kate Moss for Calvin Klein, a worn-out gardening glove adorned with flowers, and a barricade made from a pile of furniture in a squatted-in building in South London, are photographic prints available to buy online as part of the Dust Off fundraiser. The collection features over 150 works by different photographers, and the profits will go to War Child UK.
Participants include renowned names in fashion like David Bailey and Inez & Vinoodh, alongside emerging talents like Elizaveta Porodina and Campbell Addy. And it’s not all fashion, either. The range of photographers spans countries from Curaçao to China, and subjects from a tomato sat on a car dashboard to a nursing calf.
With a logo that looks like it was scrawled by a child in various crayons, the fundraiser’s focus is clear. War Child is a non-governmental organization that aims to protect and educate children who live in war-torn countries, and support the communities they live in. Their scope includes Afghanistan, Ukraine, Yemen, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Work like this is necessary, since, according to their website, 1 in 6 children worldwide are affected by armed conflict. On sale now until November 30th, each print is £125 with all profits going to the charity.
Dust Off co-founder, stylist and frequent Dries Van Noten consultant Nancy Rohde was confronted with the reality of war and displacement when in Berlin earlier this year. “I stood on the platform at the Hauptbahnhof and, by chance, witnessed trainloads of women and children arriving from Ukraine via Poland,” Rohde told Mission, recalling how the experience was “profoundly upsetting.” This, coupled with an increasing weariness towards the algorithm-fuelled echo chamber that can constitute political thought on social media, “crystallized a need in [her] to actually ‘do’ something.”
Turning to her peers in the industry, Rohde teamed up with Elizabeth Norris, director of talent agency, Artistry, to co-found Dust Off. Norris had also been experiencing a similar desire to “immerse myself in something meaningful and to engage.” The co-founders decided to partner with War Child U.K, wanting to work with a charity large enough for people to recognize but also small enough to develop a deep relationship with. They were also aware of the discourse criticizing how the West reacted to the Ukraine invasion as opposed to other, non-European conflicts, such as the backlash towards the Western reporting of the conflict, like the framing of this happening in a “civilized” nation as opposed to regions which are stereotypically painted as permanent war-zones, such as the Middle East. As such, Rohde and Norris felt it was important to support a charity with an international reach, supporting people in all parts of the world, whether the conflict is vastly reported on like in Ukraine, or sometimes forgotten, for example in Yemen.
On why they chose photography as the focus of the fundraiser, Rohde said it was a “no brainer,” having been involved with photography for over 30 years. Norris agrees: “Having started as the Bookings Assistant at British Vogue way back in 2003, I have been so fortunate to produce for and represent the best photographers in the biz, and this seemed a great way to take stock and give back.
It was important to the founders that the photographers represented a variety of backgrounds and perspectives. “There are photographers who themselves have been the child victims of war, for example,” explained Rohde. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, it was important to use Ukrainian artists such as Ukrainian-American Yelena Yemchuck but also Russian ones too, like the Moscovite Ildar Iksanov, “to remind ourselves that there are a lot of dissenters and that art can be a way of vocalizing your opposition to a regime.”
Images courtesy of Dust Off
