Monique Campbell

Photographer Monique Campbell's fascination with laundry began at an early age while watching her Mother hang clothes on the clothesline behind their home. Seeing the laundry dancing in the breeze has always been a fond memory because the time shared together with her. In 1994, Monique moved to Kitchener and initiated her personal photographic series, On Laundry. Driving around Waterloo Region looking for laundry on the line is still a favourite pastime even though she now lives in Hamilton. One of her first images include Mennonite dresses hanging on a line since they were hung right-side-out. Normally clothes are hung inside out to prevent being bleached by the sun. Seeing the fashion and cloth of another culture intrigued her creative eye. She expanded the project to look for random wash lines on her travels to Venice, Italy, Portugal Havana, Cuba, places where hanging laundry is celebrated and part of their communal history. Living in a big city like Hamilton, Monique has experienced many restrictions to air-drying laundry with city bylaws and apartment building regulations. It seems that doing things the “old fashioned way” has merit for making less of an impact on the environment. She believes that our modern communities need to come full circle and encourage citizens to air dry their laundry. This concept of renewal has many benefits. Monique captures moments in time that most people pass by without noticing. Her goal is to produce captivating images that generate questions about culture, climate change, and art. She hopes the images and questions surrounding her art linger in the minds of viewers to bring about change.