Matilda Lartey:
Co-Investigator & Collaborator

Bio Statement:

Matilda Lartey (she/her) is the Founder and Director of The Matilda Flow Inclusion Foundation (The MFI Foundation), a community-based non-profit upcycling studio in Greater Accra, Ghana that provides inclusive job training and employment to artisans whose livelihoods have been displaced by the globalized fast fashion and secondhand clothing industries. The organization was founded in 2016 and centers women, disabled people, and parents with children with disabilities.

Matilda is a fashion designer and environmental educator with two decades of experience as an artisan and activist. Her expertise is in using frugal innovation and universal design principles to train artisans, especially young adults and disabled people, in sewing, fashion design, and upcycling. As a multilingual environmental educator and activist, she teaches about sustainability, the environment, and issues of pollution and climate change and works to spark curiosity and engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through art.

As a designer, Matilda is interested in integrating sustainable approaches such as upcycling, zero waste, rainwater harvesting, water conversation, and natural dye methods in ways that are practical and accessible to artisans and pay homage to traditional Ghanaian cloth-making techniques. Her practice-based research focuses on developing culturally and contextually responsive programs for individuals and communities. She is also focused on ensuring the leadership and representation of African women, disabled people, and their family members in the global climate change response and in environmental health advocacy. Matilda brings both lived and professional experience to her collaborations with The Aftermath Learning Lab, advocating for the meaningful inclusion of the perspectives of those most impacted by global textile pollution.

Selected Publications and Presentations:

1. Matilda Lartey. “A Conversation with Fashion Designer and Environmental Activist Matilda Lartey”. Presented at the LEAPS 2023 Textile Waste Conference, May 18, 2023. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjeLN2V8Gow

2. Matilda Lartey, Stacey Johnson, and Dielle J. Lundberg. “Textile Waste, Environmental Justice, and the Aftermath of Fast Fashion” Presented at a Panel Discussion by The Aftermath Learning Lab and Make Fashion Clean, September 11, 2022. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFBjfdesFsA.

3. Julia E. DeVoy, Mark Cooper, Brian Smith, Dielle J. Lundberg, and Matilda Lartey. The Aftermath Documentary. The Boston College Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, 2022. Filmed and Edited by Cyrus Rosen, Qingwan (Cecelia) Cheng, Julia E. DeVoy, and Dielle J. Lundberg. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpzW3HOOqmw.

4. Julia E. DeVoy, Dielle J. Lundberg, Matilda Lartey, Mark Cooper, Brian Smith. The Aftermath Sculpture. Multi-Media Textile Sculpture. The Boston College Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, 2021. Learn more at: https://aftermathlearninglab.com/sculpture.

Prior Collaborations with the Lab:

1. Julia E. DeVoy, Dielle J. Lundberg, Brian Smith, Mark Cooper, Matilda Lartey, Sunand Bhattacharrya, Martin Scanlan, and David Deese. “Development of an Educational, Multiplayer Video Game to Address Environmental Racism and Drive Political and Community Action.” The Boston College Schiller Institute Grant for Exploratory Collaborative Scholarship (SIGECS). 2022.

2. Julia E. DeVoy, Dielle J. Lundberg, Mark Cooper, Brian Smith, Matilda Lartey, Sunand Bhattacharrya, and Martin Scanlan. “Assessing Public Health and Environmental Racism Impacts of Textile Pollution through Computer-Based Social Justice Research and Multi-Media Art and Data Dissemination.” The Boston College Schiller Institute Grant for Exploratory Collaborative Scholarship (SIGECS). 2021.