A View of the Art and Intimacy of Laundry Lines
July 16 – August 4, 2019
Pynelogs Art Gallery, Invermere, BC
Exhibition Statement
Hanging laundry on a clothes line is an age-old practice, that despite the advent of electronic dryers, continues around the world today – for being both cost-effective, and having the added quality of a natural, fresh-air scent.
Beyond this pure functionality, laundry lines may also be viewed for their cultural and aesthetic quality. They are essentially a public display of the private and intimate, displaying everything from our undergarments and the clothes we wear, to the bedding we sleep in. While they not only provide a glimpse into local culture, individual’s lives and personalities – revealed in in the garments themselves and the manner they’re hung – the laundry line becomes an artistic expression of the ordinary and mundane.
As seen in this body of work, the elements of nature, particularly the sun and wind, play key roles in the laundry line aesthetic. The sun creates shadows of the surroundings, filters through the fabrics, allowing the viewer to peer through the garments, or infuses the fabrics and patterns with a beautiful luminescence. At the same time, the wind, beyond simply drying the laundry, breathes movement and life into the garments.
The framing of this series was chosen to combine the art and intimacy with the history and nostalgia of the laundry line, in addition to creating a one-of-a-kind art-piece. Using old windows- many of which were salvaged from a turn-of-the century home in Wilmer , BC, the window invokes the wistfulness of peering through a kitchen window to see the laundry shifting lazily on the line.