ONE FOR ME,

ONE FOR YOU

When I was younger, I spent a lot of my time at my grandparent’s green house. It was the foundation of our family in Guam. I spent time learning how to cook, garden, and pray. One domestic activity that I always remember fondly was hanging clothes outside on the clothesline to dry. My grandfather was a gentle, loving, and caring man who always said, “one for me, one for you.” This phrase was rooted in the idea of caring and sharing with others. When family or anyone else would visit them, they would share various things such as food, clothes, space, and even prayers.

The clothesline was no exception to sharing with others at the green house. Friends, family, and acquaintances on the island knew that they could count on my grandparent’s clothesline to dry their clothes if they didn’t have money or time for a dryer. I would help my grandparents hang other people’s clothes, wait for them to dry, then remove them to put ours up. It was a simple lesson in caring for others that always stuck with me.

CALL TO ACTION

This installation is a representation of that caring spirit, and an opportunity to participate in that spirit. There are pieces of paper and clothing in the basket to your left and handing on the clothesline outside the gallery entrance. I invite the viewer to take a piece of paper or fabric from the basket, write something on it that relates to care (a work, a phrase, a person, or anything that comes to mind), then go to the clothesline directly outside the building to remove a piece from the line and place your piece in its place. You may then take the piece you removed from the clothesline home with you. A simple act of exchange rooted in care. One for me, one for you.