Waste Water Dye Experiments

Using a washing machine to clean clothes means that we are rarely confronted by the wastewater as it drains away at the end of a wash cycle. In 2013 Lord lived without a washing machine for a year and started to notice the spectrum of colours that left garments as she hand washed them. These dyes leach from the fibres of our clothes and leak out into the water during washing. Wastewater from the back of our washing machines contains a cocktail of dirt, fibres, detergents and varying quantities of dye. She began a series of wastewater dye experiments to reuse this dye to colour virgin materials; a very unpredictable process that has taken a few years to refine. The work aims to bring focus on the hidden and un-seen aspects of laundry practices.