Wildlife Federation fellowship will aid senior's 'Organic Portraits' project

Oakes

By Roger Segelken

Summer Rayne Oakes, a College of Agriculture and Life Science senior majoring in natural resources and entomology, will use a fellowship from the National Wildlife Federation's campus ecology program to help support her "Organic Portraits" project. As the project coordinator, Oakes describes the effort as a unique partnership between art and environmental advocacy -- by way of fashion and photography -- to promote environmental awareness through the popular media.

The idea for the project came to her, Oakes recalls, while working as a fashion model in New York City when she learned that the clothing industry "is one of the most polluting in the world," beginning with the agricultural and chemical process that produce fiber for clothing. Her plan is to commission what she calls organic, nature-inspired fashions by up-and-coming designers in the industry and a dozen college campuses, then photograph the fashions in natural settings.

The fashions -- made from organic cotton, hemp and other sustainably grown fibers -- will be juxtaposed with scenes from the Triunfo Biosphere Reserve' s cloud forest in Chiapas, Mexico, for a coffee-table book, shows and fashion layouts in the media during the fall '04 or spring '05 fashion season. Proceeds from the book's sales will go to conservation programs at the Triunfo preserve, Oakes said.

Eventually, Oakes hopes to work with not-for-profit organizations "to promote sustainable fashion through unconventional means," she said. In the meantime she is busy raising additional support for the Organic Portraits project and preparing for the fashion shoots this summer. The National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Program grants support projects that will transform colleges and universities into learning and teaching models of environmental responsibility.

Previous academic honors to Oakes have included a Morris K. Udall Scholarship and the Cornell Department of Natural Resources' Harlan B. Brumstead Award. She has served as an environmental lobbyist as well as a research assistant in the Cornell Waste Management Institute and the Department of Entomology.