Dust to Dust

As the kibbutz moved away from communal and collective living arrangements toward privatization, two major changes occurred: The privatization of the family budget and, primarily for women, the decision to do the family laundry at home. These changes took place more or less simultaneously and were the most obvious transformations. When we purchased a dryer (a year after buying a washing machine) I noticed that the lint filters were shaped like picture frames. These “frames” led me to connect between the changes towards privatization on the kibbutz and the process of doing our own laundry. The constant worry over finances and the continual and never-ending involvement with dirty laundry caused me to seek a creative way of dealing with, and expressing, these sudden changes in my life.

The order of the items in the exhibit (to be viewed from right to left):

     Chaos – what goes in, what stays out?
     Into the Black Hole of the unknown
     Tabula Rasa – a clean slate
     Accumulating Debt
     In the Red
     From Red to Black
     In the Black
     Surrender