Installation of Airing Out the “Dirty” Laundry

We all have a story to tell. Be a part of the narrative.

Airing Out the “Dirty” Laundry is an ongoing community art movement that responds to the silencing of women*, by creating space to share experiences through visual storytelling. This installation is the collective voices of nearly 400 “Laundry Day” participants that have chosen to share their visual narratives.

​

*Airing Out the “Dirty” Laundry holds space for all women across the intersections of race, age, color, disability, faith, religion, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, social class, economic class, ethnicity, gender identity and gender expression.

This collection of narratives has grown to include voices from across the United States and reached internationally with Laundry Day hosts in Hamburg, Germany. These stories have been exhibited in more than 30 regional clothesline installations. This exhibition serves as a compilation of these stories exhibited collectively for the first time. This work is a collaborative exhibition,  as well as an invitation to share and engage in a collective narrative. These works are tactile and ask that the viewer reveal aspects of the artists’ narrative by lifting the public layers to engage in the story underneath.

Andrea Downs is a visual artist, activist, community arts organizer,  and educator. Through her work, Andrea strives to foster collaboration and connection through the building of community connections and an open invitation for a diverse community dialogue. At the center of her work is the value of relationships, connectivity, identity, and open engagement to build stronger communities.

Her most important work, in partnership with her husband, is raising her two children to stand for equality and justice.

Andrea lives and works in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Admission to The Mint Museum Uptown is FREE during reopening weekend from 9/25-9/27 and each Wednedesday evening from 5-9pm. Please click here to reserve your timed-ticket for reopening weekend: Get your tickets!

While it's not necessary to RSVP for this event, I needed to add the option to RSVP so that I could display the details for you.

This project was made possible, in part, with funding from ASC.