Backyard Economy II (Diane Germain Mowing)

Martha Rosler, 1974, 6:32 min, color, silent. (Included on Super-8 Shorts). Courtesy EAI
Set in the arch-American "home movie" context of a sunny suburban backyard, these early Super 8 films document the mundane activities of a woman going about her domestic chores. Quietly depicting this figure in the tasks of mowing and watering the grass, hanging laundry to dry, and keeping her son company, Rosler points up the labor that allows leisure, and interrogates the 'economy' that creates her role.

(Text courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI). Visit www.eai.org for complete biography, work descriptions, images, ordering information, and more.)