Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao is the inaugural MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission recipient. The new National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) initiative is a major five-year program designed to support five international female designers or architects, one each year, to create a significant work for the NGV Collection.
Bilbao is regarded as one of Mexico’s leading architects. She founded Tatiana Bilbao Estudio in Mexico City in 2004 with the aim of producing architectural design work from a position of social and ecological responsibility. Her work challenges historical conventions, often rearticulating spaces to make them more people-orientated and inclusive. “I am deeply honoured and grateful to have been chosen for the Women in Design Commission by the NGV and MECCA. The Commission is contributing, in many ways, to advance the discourse of the importance of opening channels for people who have been left out of opportunities,” she says.
Tatiana Bilbao collage, MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission 2022. Photograph: Tatiana Bilbao Estudio. Courtesy the artist and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Bilbao will unveil La ropa sucia se lava en casa (Dirty clothes are washed at home), 2022, a large-scale installation exploring the concept of clothing as a symbol of protection for the body, and the associated practices of domestic labour, gender, and community, at NGV International on 6 October, where the commission will be on display until 29 January 2023.
The installation is accompanied by a series of wall drawings, which depict communal laundries and washhouses from around the world and throughout history, creating a collective memory of the diverse social interactions that laundry spaces have enabled in societies where associated labour often goes unrecognised.
Portrait of Tatiana Bilbao, architect and founder of Tatiana Bilbao Estudio. Photograph: Ana Hop. Courtesy the artist and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
“Tatiana Bilbao’s is a compelling voice from outside of the traditional canon of architecture, offering a unique perspective on both its history and its future. A woman from North America, an advocate, and a spokesperson for change, Bilbao creates work that is as intellectually rigorous as it is visually dynamic,” says Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV.
The MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission is made possible with support from MECCA Brands through its social change program, M-POWER, which champions equality and opportunity for women and girls. It will provide a platform for the presentation of topical world-premiere works that amplify the contribution of female designers and architects in shaping our world. New commissions will be revealed annually at an event coinciding with International Women’s Day in March. The five-year partnership will culminate in a major exhibition to showcase the five bodies of work and the remarkable collection outcome.
ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/mecca-x-ngv-women-in-design-commission
