Spin Cycle
Pre-wash
The Tea Towel is forever in a spin. Wet. Dry. Wet. Dry. Wet… Always rubbing and polishing, shining and wiping, busy servicing our needs. Greetings from SANDFIRE ROADHOUSE. Often gifted out to friend and family as a ‘great time’ souvenir, the resilient Tea Towel is caught in a cycle, trapped in the machinations of the machine, tangled with the tights, slapped taught then hung out to dry.
The Souvenir Tea Towel, related to the common variety Tea Towel, is the rarer and more desirable form within the Tea Towel genus. Her plumage is gaudy and cheaply printed with pictures and anecdotes of a conquering past. WITTENOOM W.A. Caught in a game of Captain Cook she is bought and sold, given and received as a flag-type symbol of ‘we was here’ reinforcing the colonidsation cycle: Wet; dry; wet…
The Great Australian Roadhouse; small-town general store; tourist bureau; Wombat Lodge or your altruistic fundraising charity distribution chain (CWA, P&C) are the preferred habitat for the Souvenir Tea Towel. She is desired by the panicked traveler sans imagination, the sensible shoe brigade and the astute collector oblivious to the inherent values embedded in the object itself and it’s covering decoration. CARNARVON WA jostles for provenance with MADE IN CHINA.
The Tea Towel ends up on the line. She is hoisted up dripping and bleached by the Australian sun until rigid. Pulled down she is roughly folded then jammed third drawer down on top of the Souvenir Tea Towel. Too good to use and too sentimental to throw away, she languishes nibbled by silverfish until recycled by the local Red Cross. I swam with the dolphins at BUNBURY WA.
Wet
An examination of the production and use of the Souvenir Tea Towel was the focus of exploration for this exhibition. It was examined as a metaphor for and symbol of culture, society and the individual.
The Tea Towel is a signifier of our colonial past and an icon of colonial conquest. The origins of tea and ‘tea time’ rituals indeed come into question here as loaded meanings inherent in the Tea Towel itself.
In addition the Tea Towel is stamped and marked with other meanings creating a layered effect, like culture over culture. This was interrogated in the creation of a new range of Tea Towels which were produced (BUNBURY,WA); gifted (we was here); used (wet, dry, wet…) and recycled into exhibition (spin cycle).
Dry
The exhibition was cyclic in nature and constantly changed.
The audience encountered a quiet, still laundry room caught mid-cycle. Tea Towels laundered on washing day. They hung, filling the space; a moist, laundered scent mixed with the fetid odour of a thousand roast dinners will fill the space. Piles of tea towels are strewn on the floor.
Several days later, the tea towels were miraculously transformed. They were folded, crisp and dry. They were ironed in-situ as part of the laundry cycle, a performance element of the installation.
The fresh Tea Towels were sent out for use as the next batch arrives to be strung up. This installation is designed to evolve to emphasise the cycle of production and use; supply and demand; wet and dry. Laundry is always getting done yet is never actually done.
Each Tea Towel is a unique response to the multiple meanings embedded in the Souvenir Tea-Towel (see pre wash) and how this layering reflects a false sense of Australian culture.