[Alice Volpitta] My name is Alice Volpitta and I'm your Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper with Blue Water Baltimore. I use science, policy, and the law to speak on behalf of our local waterways. This work depicts laundry women coming to and from laundry boats in the Seine in Paris. This artwork is talking to me about water access, and for me, water access in Baltimore is a huge issue because people don't care about what they can't see. And so over time we've built our city with its back against the water. And this picture is showing me a time when not only were waterways utilized, but they were accessible. And so it's interesting because I think that the artist is telling us a lot about the pollution in these waterways, but for me, I'm seeing a positive aspect here: about how people can get in touch with their local waterways. These boats would travel up and down the Seine using the water to clean people's laundry. Something like this would never be allowed nowadays. But it's really interesting to me to see how access in the past to waterways was so much better, even though we're protecting our waterways more now than ever before. I think there's always a balance that you have to strike between preserving natural ecosystems and then uplifting people and maintaining ways of life. There's a colorful watercolor just nearby. It looks like this woman could be a continuation of the woman standing at the top of the staircase in the previous work, but now she's on her way back home. Even though the colors are so bright, she looks heavy. She looks weary and tired. You can see the laundry boats down in the Seine, and these are the sources of the pollution that's ultimately degrading the Seine. The bag that the woman is carrying on her back looks like it's about to split and burst. And that combined with the angry sky is giving this tension to the image that is really interesting to me. I think the body position of the women in both artworks is telling me that their work is heavy, not just the bags on their backs. But their lives are heavy. It's powerful.

This black-and-white lithograph measures approximately 22 inches high by 16 and a half inches wide. The composition depicts two figures dressed in long skirts, long-sleeved shirts, and head coverings walking up and down a steep, stone staircase at the edge of the Seine River in Paris, France. The woman at the top of the stairs, shown in profile and walking to the left, is carrying a large, burdensome bundle of laundry over her back. She hunches over under the weight. The woman at the bottom of the stairs carries her bundle under her right arm as she approaches the river and appears equally strained. A small portion of the river is visible in the lower right corner of the print, and an arched bridge can be seen in the distance.