Tatiana Bilbao’s Large-scale Installation Opens at NGV.

Installation view of Tatiana Bilbao’s La ropa sucia se lava en casa (Dirty clothes are washed at home), 2022 in the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Kate Shanasy.

Installation view of Tatiana Bilbao’s La ropa sucia se lava en casa (Dirty clothes are washed at home), 2022 in the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Kate Shanasy.

Tatiana Bilbao, Director, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio with her work La ropa sucia se lava en casa (Dirty clothes are washed at home), 2022 for the MECCA X NGV Women in Design Commission at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Josh Robenstone.

The inaugural MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission opened last week, unveiling a large-scale installation by world-leading Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao. The installation explores the concept of clothing as a symbol of protection, and the associated practices of domestic labour, gender and community.

Titled La ropa sucia se lava en casa (Dirty clothes are washed at home), 2022, Bilbao’s installation draws on the notion of clothing as a symbol of protection for the body and the associated labour of caring for garments as an act of self-care.

Central to the installation is a basin-like structure inspired by the Lavadero of Huichapan, a historical communal laundry located in the town of Huichapan, Hildalgo in Mexico. The construction of the lavadero dates back to the 18th century and was built for the local community to access the natural spring water. The communal structure represents a bygone practice of laundering clothing in public spaces and the social bonds formed among communities through this act.

Symbolising the age-old and cross-cultural practice of washing clothes, the installation is draped with large patchwork quilts, each comprising textiles and clothing donated and sewn together by people in Berlin, Mexico City and Melbourne, who participated in workshops delivered by Tatiana Bilbao Estudio in the making of the work.

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Wall drawings and mixed-media collages depict communal laundries and washhouses from around the world and throughout history, creating a collective memory of the diverse social interactions that laundry spaces have enabled in societies, where the associated labour often goes unrecognised. The commission is a physical expression of Bilbao’s aim to free architecture from the conventions of the 20th century and to propose a new trajectory that is focused on community, sustainability and ethics.

Regarded as one of Mexico’s leading architects working today, Bilbao founded Tatiana Bilbao Estudio in Mexico City in 2004 with the aim of conducting architectural design work from a position of social and ecological responsibility. Her work is known for challenging historical conventions, often rearticulating spaces so that they are more people-orientated and inclusive.

The first and only initiative of its kind in Australia, the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission is a major five-year series that will invite an international female designer or architect to create new and significant work for the NGV Collection each year, amplifying the contribution of female creatives in shaping our world.

The 2022 MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission: Tatiana Bilbao will be on display until 29 January 2023 at NGV International. For more information head to ngv.vic.gov.au/mecca-x-ngv-women-in-design-commission/.

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Tatiana Bilbao’s collage La ropa sucia se lava en casa (Dirty clothes are washed at home), 2022 in the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: NGV.

[Images courtesy of NGV. Installation photography by Kate Shanasy. Portrait photography by Josh Robenstone. Collage photography by NGV and Tatiana Bilbao Estudio.]