Which Ariel is Better?

Which laundry chemicals do a better job? Chemicals from Germany? Or chemicals from Poland? This embroidery records a story of laundering and the social emotions relating it. Laundry has a great many dimensions. They range from an everyday activity, via the chemicals and commerce sectors, to spiritual matters. I placed a washing-machine door at the centre of the fabric, symbolising a gateway, a point of passage. I embroidered the canvas with symbols found on laundry products, hand gestures which are part of the practice of Ayurveda, a supermarket logo and the Ariel washing powder logo, which is reminiscent of the Star of David and calls to mind associations with the biblical name, Ariel, used interchangeably with the name 'Jerusalem' in the Old Testament. The quotations come from Internet fora devoted to laundry. Can an insufficiently fresh aroma be a bad sign? Does an impasse with the washing indicate a life crisis? Here, cleansing obtains an existential meaning and doing the washing becomes an alchemical process and a quest for the philosopher's stone.