Washing/Tracks/Maintenance: Outside 1973

This black and white photograph documents a performance by Mierle Laderman Ukeles outside the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. The composition is structured around the contrast between the static architecture and the dynamic action of water being poured onto the steps. The textures range from the rough stone of the building to the fluid splash of the water, creating a visually engaging interplay. Ukeles’s performance challenges conventional understandings of art by incorporating everyday labor. The act of washing becomes a form of artistic expression, subverting traditional notions of artistic skill and aesthetic value. By performing this act in front of a cultural institution, Ukeles questions the value systems that relegate maintenance work to the margins of society. The repetitive act of washing highlights the constant, often invisible labor required to maintain public spaces. The photograph captures not only the action but also the implications of care and upkeep, inviting viewers to reconsider their relationship to the spaces they inhabit and the labor that sustains them.