13 artists and writers on invisible labour
29 July - 25 August
Zoe Thompson-Moore, M/other, Make and Make Again, With Hold, What We Will 2018. Photo credit: Dianna Thomson
BRONWYN POLASCHEK
CAITLIN ROSE DONNELLY
CASSIE RINGLAND-STEWART
CLARE LUITEN
DIANNA THOMSON
HANA CARPENTER
HOLLY WALKER
JOHANNA MECHEN
KATE STEVENS WEST
MARY WALKER
PHILIPPA DOYLE
RACHEL RUCKSTUHL-MANN
ZOE THOMPSON-MOORE
It’s a lonely thing, working hard for free, at tasks not even considered to be work. Under that great big pile of washing, school notices, birthday present wish lists and to-dos, there’s an abundance of seething creativity bursting to be released. This mountain of invisible labour, the second shift, the mental load, is heavy – and profoundly important.
In the cracks between caring, paid work, transporting, feeding, researching, problem-solving, replenishing and emotionally guiding—or after the children are asleep—do we have the energy to make, think, build, create, write, have fun or play? How do we start to acknowledge invisible labour, its significance, its cost, its beauty and the generosity of it?
Dirty Laundry brings together thirteen artists and writers to explore and express their experience of invisible labour. Involved in the Dirty Laundry project are: painter & designer, Kate Stevens West; somatic practitioners, Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann & Clare Luiten; essayist, Bronwyn Polaschek; poets, Cassie Ringland-Stewart & Mary Walker; digital artist & photographer, Johanna Mechen; photographer, Dianna Thomson; painter, Hana Carpenter; installation artists, Caitlin Rose Donnelly & Zoe Thompson-Moore; textile artist, Philippa Doyle; & personal non-fiction writer, Holly Walker.
Dirty Laundry has its beginnings in an earlier collaboration between coordinators, Kate & Cassie, in the 2020 exhibition and publication, The Velvet Rope, Poems and Paintings. After this successful artistic conversation, a productive to and fro of words and paint, Kate & Cassie decided to pull together a wider group of creative people they had met variously through study, work, art practice, & playcentre, all currently primary-carers for their families. This group work collaboratively, sharing and responding, as the project developed.
Everyone asked to be involved gave an emphatic yes.
Each artist and writer has made work that in some way gives voice to invisible labour. Caitlin Rose Donnelly, for example, creates one of the pou works for this show, Whakaputu (2023) by washing domestic items – sheets, in paint. Through her process, the repetitive, overwhelming, monolithic task of washing becomes tangible. Conversely, Zoe Thompson-Moore’s banner series, turns the idea of labour on its head. She challenges us to think about creativity & art practice as being part of the domestic world rather than apart from it.
Dirty Laundry explores those un or under acknowledged tasks within family life that often fall to one person & can have an impact on their capacity, identity and mental health. The exhibition and illustrated publication explore the question, how do we make invisible labour visible?
