MECCA X NGV Women in Design Commission

An advocate for architectural design that stimulates social change, Tatiana Bilbao explores topics rarely examined by the architecture profession. In her installation for the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission, La ropa sucia se lava en casa (Dirty clothes are washed at home), a large concrete communal washbasin and a collaborative textile made during public workshops held in Mexico City, Berlin and Melbourne draw attention to the enduring inequalities surrounding domestic work in contemporary society. Promoting conversations about unpaid labour, gender politics, sustainability and care, Bilbao’s installation alerts us to the ways that space is shaped by dominant ideologies. The inaugural Mecca x NGV Women in Design Commission platforms design and architecture as a powerful cultural medium.

The five year series is supported by MECCA M-POWER, a social change initiative that aims to champion equality and opportunity for women and girls, including elevating women in art and design.

The commission of this work is made possible through the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission, which, annually over five years, invites a leading female designer or architect to produce a work for the NGV Collection.

The NGV warmly thanks MECCA for supporting the acquisition of these works.