JUDYTA GRUDZIEN

We Love You

New York, United States • judytagrudzien.com

  • “We Love You” is an experimental photo based project about domestic work done by housekeepers, colloquially known as “cleaning ladies”.

    I am one of those housekeepers who organizes and beautifies the living spaces of other people. This work frequently exposes me to toxic cleaning supplies, making me feel as if I am gradually erasing my health and my body.

    For this series, I have attached color film negatives to my rubber gloves when I’m at work. During this performative act, the fragile surface of film becomes degraded and is altered permanently by poisonous household chemicals while my body suffers the same consequence.

    My hands are my daily tools: indispensable and vulnerable. Through the use of a chemigram process, I’ve immersed my bare hands in domestic cleaning chemicals, which I then place onto light sensitive photographic paper creating contact “hand prints”. In turn, these prints emerge as a testimony to my body’s slow deterioration and a homage to the first human cave paintings.

    By using my voice as an Artist to tell my story as a Cleaning Lady, I have taken a stance to initiate the long overdue uncomfortable conversation on a social class system where the imbalance of power between employer and employee treats the latter one like “disposable gloves”.