Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Central Lancashire
Rub a Tub Senior - Invisible Wash - Project Space Leeds 2011
This installation led by Walsh investigated and assisted by Himid brought into visibility the unpaid/ poorly paid work undertaken by women across the world. It acted as a temporary memorial to those who have spent their entire lives washing clothes for not just their own extended families, but whole communities; whether religious, secular, military, unskilled working or aristocratic.
Written narratives by working women and servants, were developed to re-imagine real scenarios. Walsh assembled a collection of washtubs, dollies and washboards from the Artemis Educational Collection (Leeds). She then used these object to create an installation based on the concept of a memorial park.
Walsh’s installation was exhibited at Project Space Leeds, a venue which itself was sited close to one of the largest soap works in England, employing around 750 people, and manufacturing six hundred tons of soap a week in 1893: revealing further histories that underpin this work.
Multiple audiences, including invited school groups and university students from across the city, engaged with the miniature scenes and were able to move freely amongst the elements of the installation.
Rub-a-Tub Senior: Invisible Wash was a collaborative installation that was part of Hunter Gatherer. Also participating were artists Lubaina Himid, Bryndis Snaebjornsdottir, Nathan Walker, Lisa Stansbie, Amelia Crouch and Rhiannon Silver. Project Space Leeds is an internationally renowned contemporary art space known for its work with the Jerwood Painting Prize, Ceri Hand Gallery and artists Hans Peter Kuhn, Laura Ford and Rachel Goodyear. Walsh worked with curators Pippa Hale and Zoe Sawyer.
