Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao has designed La Ropa sucia se Lava Encasa, an installation at Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria that features a large washbasin and patchwork quilts to "produce a conversation about care".
Bilbao installed La Ropa sucia se Lava Encasa (Dirty Clothes are Washed at Home) at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) to argue that clothing, not architecture, is the body's "first layer of protection".
La Ropa sucia se Lava Encasa is a mixed-media installation
A large concrete washbasin and colourful patchwork quilts draped on geometric clotheshorse-style hangers are arranged across a single room to invite visitors to reflect on the countless people, mostly women, around the world who do our laundry, according to the architect. "[The pieces] are used to produce a conversation about care and who produces that care in our lives and in our societies," Bilbao told Dezeen.
It includes a geometric concrete washbasin
Shaped like an interlocking grid, the basin is informed by the real-life Lavaderos de Sabina Grande, an 18th-century communal laundry basin in the town of Huichapan in Mexico.
The tapestry-like patchwork quilts are made up of surplus textiles and clothing that were donated for the installation and sewn together by people across Melbourne, Mexico City and Berlin, who attended workshops held by Bilbao's eponymous studio.
Patchwork quilts were sewn by various participants
Pieces of discarded denim, gingham and...