Linen —
Slow Fashion

LINEN traces the transformation of a plant into textile through cultivation, harvesting and manual processing.

The project began in Oľšavica, Slovakia, in 2016, where Kristina Polakovic encountered traditional flax cultivation and learned how linen had historically been produced. In 2019, she returned to the process herself — sowing, growing, harvesting and processing flax by hand.

The work reflects on the physical labour, time and knowledge once embedded in a single piece of cloth, placing this almost forgotten relationship to material in direct contrast with the speed, abundance and disposability of contemporary fast fashion.

The project asks how our perception of clothing changes when we understand how much land, time, knowledge and physical effort are required to create the material from which it is made.