VIDEO: Mary Mattingly-Owns Up

Do objects come with responsibility? In this film produced by Art21, we meet Brooklyn-based artist Mary Mattingly who transforms personal belongings into sculptural forms that she later incorporates into photographs and performative actions.

Mary Mattingly is an artist who creates work about imagined futures she calls Proposals. She builds sculptural ecosystems that prioritize access to food, shelter, and clean water, resulting in large-scale participatory projects around the world. In 2016, she led Swale, a floating sculpture and edible landscape on a barge in New York that depended upon water common law and inspired NYC Parks to establish their first public “Foodway.” Her work has been exhibited at institutions such as Storm King Art Center, the International Center of Photography, Seoul Art Center, the Brooklyn Museum, Palais de Tokyo, Barbican Art Gallery, and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana. Notable grants include the Guggenheim Foundation Grant, the James L. Knight Foundation, the Harpo Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Jerome Foundation. It has been featured in various documentaries and publications, including Art21 and The New York Times. Her monograph titled “What Happens After” was published by the Anchorage Museum and Hirmer in 2022.

 

 

Mary Mattingly, Owns Up, Produced by: Art21