Can Sivan Askayo’s photographs convince us hang dry our laundry?
What if art had the power to change our habits for the (environmentally) better? Could a photograph change governmental policy, or at the very least, some of our daily behaviors? Artistic photographers have tried, and acclaimed photographer Spencer Tunick’s naked Dead Sea shoot this year to raise awareness about its sinking water levels is one of the most famous examples.
Sometimes the beauty of a photograph (or other work of art) is what it takes to force us to make a change. The stunning hanging laundry photograph series by Israeli photographer Sivan Askayo is no exception, and may cause many of us to regret that we ever used an electronic dryer.
Titled ‘Intimacy Under the Wires’, Askayo says that her “laundry project [began] in the vibrant alleyways of Tel Aviv’s Jaffa neighborhood and has become an ongoing project, taking me to Madrid, Barcelona, London, Florence, Venice and Buenos Aires to snap the anonymously displayed drying clothing.”
“The project, that was named ‘Intimacy under the Wires’,” she continues, “reveals images of laundry both intimate and unconfined while their snoopy character makes laundry, a seemingly prosaic subject, all the more intriguing.”
The series has already been featured in Phaidon, The SIP and Design Sponge, and we wonder what kind of effect it has had on peoples’ laundry.
:: Sivan Askayo
Read more about environmental photography projects:
Eco-Sexy Art: Strip Naked at Dead Sea for Acclaimed Photographer, Spencer Tunick
Nature’s Social Worker, Ecological Artist Shai Zakai
Green Love “Sticks” in Jaffa
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Love it! I hang my laundry but it’s not quite so pretty 🙂
I wonder if there are any statistics on the global use of dryers and how much energy that is. Here in Morocco aside from hotels and laundry services, you’d rarely find one in a home, even affluent homes…
Looks like laundry porn to me.