3 Questions

On Thursday, multi-platform artist Nova Cynthia Barker hopes to bring the topics of public art and art funding to the table—the fold and fluff table. A recipient of one of Axle Contemporary's $10 nanogrants, Barker will hunker down at the Solana Laundromat from 4 to 6 pm, do a couple of loads and strike up a conversation or two, which she plans on sharing on her social media sites.                                               

What sparked this idea?

Well, I was thinking that every time I go into the laundromat, I meet all these great people, and sometimes it's people that I've known for a long time and haven't seen in years, and there's this interaction that happens—just people to people.

What do you hope to accomplish with the project?

What I really want to accomplish is getting people to think about these serious issues, like art, because art is becoming really marginalized. The term 'starving artist' is literal, you know? So that idea that we all have to do laundry for me is like a common ground where everybody meets from every socioeconomic level; everybody has to have clean clothes.

Final question: How do you get your whites their whitest?

[Laughs] There's a really great detergent, I think it's called Exo. It's a natural product and works great. I don't care if a stain has set for months.

Santa Fe Reporter