By Vanessa Infanzon Arts Correspondant and Photojournalist Joshua Komer
Photo Credit: Joshua Komer
COLLABORATION
“Airing Out the ‘Dirty’ Laundry” receives funding from a variety of places. Tim Miner and Matt Olin with Charlotte is Creative and Creative Mornings awarded a $250 HUG Grant to fund the first Laundry Day on Feb. 6, 2018.
“That award funded materials for the first two Laundry Days that happened in my family room and literally was the spark of support that was so unexpected and needed at the very beginning,” Downs said. “The friendships and connections that have come as a result of my connection to Charlotte is Creative are incredibly meaningful to me and the continuation of this work.”
Artwork from Laundry Days is collected and displayed on clotheslines at various events throughout the city, including the last two BOOM Festivals and UNC Charlotte’s Popp Martin Student Union Art Gallery.
The largest installation, more than 400 pieces from past Laundry Days, will be displayed June 19-Aug. 9 at Mint Museum Uptown in its Level 5 Expansion Space. The opening reception is 6-9 p.m June 19.
“While Laundry Days are extremely important in terms of creating space for women to share, create, connect, listen and feel heard,” Downs said, “the joining together of stories on clotheslines in installations and the sharing of their stories is just as important. Each story has a top layer and is meant to be lifted as an invitation to engage and connect with the story underneath.
“The intention is to invite curiosity to reveal and unveil each woman’s story and it also symbolically acts as a protective layer to each story.”