The inaugural MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission, opening on 6 October, will unveil a large-scale installation by world-leading Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao.
The installation will explore the concept of clothing as a symbol of protection, and the associated practices of domestic labour, gender and community. The MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission is a major five-year series that, each year, invites an international female designer or architect to create new and significant work for the NGV Collection.
The first and only initiative of its kind in Australia, the Commission will create an annual platform for the presentation of topical, world-premiere works that amplify the contribution of female designers and architects in shaping our world.
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Titled La ropa sucia se lava en casa (Dirty clothes are washed at home), 2022, the 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 and Mexico City, who participated in workshops delivered by Tatiana Bilbao Estudio in the making of the work
Wall drawings 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.
Prior to founding her firm Tatiana Bilbao Estudio in 2004, Bilbao was an advisor in the Ministry of Development and Housing of the Government of the Federal District of Mexico City. Her architectural work was presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018 and is held in the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou, Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago. Tatiana Bilbao has worked across institutional, domestic, and low-cost social housing, urban planning and landscape design. Her collaborations with other architects, artists, communities and business professionals continue to enrich the cultural and built landscape of Mexico.
Tatiana Bilbao said: ‘I am deeply honoured and grateful to have been chosen for the Women in Design Commission by the NGV and MECCA. The Commission is contributing, in many ways, to advance the discourse of the importance of opening channels for people who have been left out of opportunities.’
It will be on display from 6 October 2022 – 29 January 2023 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Free entry. Further information is available via the NGV website.
