Dirty Washing - The Hidden Language of Soap Powder Boxes

I co-curated (50%) the 'Dirty Washing' exhibition at Design Museum, London, supported by an AHRC award. The exhibition focussed on ‘dirt’ as metaphor to analyse the repressed, de-humanising narratives of soap powder, and expose hidden languages of imperialism and colonialism.

The exhibition featured soap powder box displays, graphic agitations, curated objects and new product innovation. The curation explored the design of soap powder packaging (1860-2001), identifying how it had been influenced by avant-garde art movements and popular forms such as comics and advertising, foregrounding the cultural issues raised by invocation of sanitised dreams about hygiene, security, purity and lifestyle. I co-created poster exhibits to highlight gender fantasies, racist and sexist distinctions to communicate research findings about soapboxes, based on the application of theories from psychoanalysis and semiotics. The exhibition catalogue that I co-edited (50%) commissioned scholars Judith Williamson and Mark Jenner, journalists Suzanne Moore, Deborah Orr and Will Self to write on similar themes, complementing our introduction and article (with O’Mara 50/50%).

• http://www.omaraspace.com/archive/flake/...