[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.

In this loosely brushed watercolor measuring approximately 13 and three-quarters inches high by nearly 10 inches wide, vibrant colors animate a woman near an urban waterway where she washes laundry. The woman is depicted from the front, her head turned to her left shoulder. She is slightly hunched over with a large bundle of laundry piled high over her back. Her left arm keeps the overstuffed bundle, which has split open, propped up as she walks. The woman wears a pale pink and purple, long-sleeved dress with a pop of orange at the collar, and a slightly yellowed white apron. Her hair is a similar orange color to her collar. Behind her, the Seine River in Paris, France, is painted in pale greens with cobalt blue and soft purple lowlights. Buildings and foliage line the river’s banks, and a bridge can be spotted in the far distance. The dramatic sky is filled with dark, stormy clouds in moody purples and deep blues, which creates an overall melancholic and slightly foreboding tone. The heaviness of her work is mirrored in the heaviness of the atmosphere.