Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly has made significant contributions to the fields of feminism and postmodernism through her extensive body of work, which includes large-scale narrative installations and theoretical writings.

Biography of Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly, born in 1941 in Fort Dodge, Iowa, is a pioneering American conceptual artist, feminist, educator, and writer.

Her artistic journey began with a strong academic foundation. From 1959 to 1963, she studied at the College of Saint Teresa in Winona, receiving a BA. Later, she honed her skills at Pius XII Institute in Florence, obtaining an MA in Studio Art and Art History in 1965. From 1968 to 1970, Kelly attended St Martin's School of Art in London, receiving a Postgraduate Certificate in Painting.

Kelly's work bridges the gap between conceptual art and the personal concerns of artists from the 1980s. Her artwork has been showcased on the global stage, and she is regarded as one of the most influential contemporary artists active today.

Her recent solo exhibitions include "Mary Kelly: To Witness the Future" at Maria & Alberto De La Cruz Art Gallery in Washington (2022), "Mary Kelly: Interim Pt I: Corpus" at Vielmetter Los Angeles in Los Angeles (2022), "Mary Kelly: Face-to-Face" at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London (2018), and many more. 

Currently, Mary Kelly resides in Los Angeles, where she continues to work. 

Mary Kelly's Art Style

Mary Kelly is recognized for her project-based endeavors, particularly her large-scale narrative installations. Her projects from the 1970s center around her personal experiences of pregnancy and child-rearing.

From the 1980s to the present, Kelly's projects persistently explore the inquiries posed by theoretical practice and subjectivity. In her monumental work, "Interim" (1984–89), Kelly grapples with the collective memories of women. Another project, "Gloria Patri" (1992), utilizes an archive of found material from the first Gulf War to investigate how the violence of international events impacts or is influenced by individual lives.

In 2004, Kelly produced "Circa 1968" which revisits the movement of the 1968 demonstration by university students in Paris. This artwork is composed of dryer lint and required over 10,000 loads of laundry to gather enough lint for production. The installation is projected onto the wall, prompting questions about the recurring past, the future, and the legacy that these events will leave behind.

In "Love Songs" (2005), Kelly collaborated with young women who were passionate about the philosophies and legacies of the women's movement to recreate historical protest photographs, some thirty years after their original capture.