A Field Guide to Cleaning

Saying farewell to winter clutter

Field Guide Vol. 244

With spring blooming in the Northern Hemisphere, we're dusting off the langour of winter and looking forward to some spring cleaning. The tradition of spring cleaning itself dates back centuries and has roots in many cultures: for many Jews, springtime cleaning comes in preparation for Passover celebrations; in Iran, the preparations come in advance of their New Year, or Nowruz, holiday which took place about two weeks ago celebrating the spring equinox. In this week's Field Guide, journey with us from Guatemala's city streets to the popular cleaning methods of Marie Kondo.

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The Woman’s House

Photography by Sunmin Lee

The notion of home evokes tranquility and comfort. But home can be a stage where families enact frustrations and anger, longing and desire, and it looks different when seen through the eyes of each member. The point of view of the woman, the mother, consumes the lens in Sunmin Lee’s two series “The Woman’s House I” and “The Woman’s House II.” The gender wage gap in South Korea is the largest among the 36 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, rising in 2018 to a 37.1 percent difference between men’s and women’s pay. Half of all women do not work outside of the home. And inside the home, women are responsible for the majority of all cooking, housework and childcare.

Rather than respite and comfort, Lee’s camera lays bare the exhaustion, clutter and tedium of daily family life for young South Korean mothers, many of whom were taught that finding a mate would be the ultimate life fulfillment. We glimpse in these women the edge, the conflict between the dream they are sold and the reality of the home life. This life is often played out in tight spaces where the lines between adult and child are blurred.

See more from “The Woman’s House” here

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Did you know?

(Cluttered Desk) Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress

Death cleaning, or döstädning in Swedish, is the act of clearing out any clutter or unnecessary belongings before you die so that your children and family members are not left with it.