A few years ago I noticed a couple of themes in my photography.
One was laundry lines. In Genova, Jerusalem, Dakar, Bishkek, Kyoto, Grand Canaria…
At first I thought it a bit odd that I was traveling to all these wonderful places, and coming home with photos of people’s laundry hanging out to dry. But then I realised why it speaks to me: this simple fact of life. Universal.
And something my grandmother, in her 1950s mindset, thought was uncivilised. She had an electric clothes dryer, so there was no need for the neighbours to see her cotton underpants.
But what could be a more concrete evidence of civilisation than laundry lines?
For the record, I don’t think Adam and Eve donned clothing out of shame, but because they ate from the tree of knowledge and longed for beauty.
My grandmother never wanted to travel.
That was a shame.
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