Mary Kelly: To Witness the Future

From left to right:
7 Days, 26 January-1 February, 1972, 2014
Compressed lint
41 x 34 x 2 in
Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York

7 Days, 10-16 November, 1971, 2016
Compressed lint
41 1/8 x 34 1/8 x 2 in
Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York

7 Days, 8-14 December, 1971, 2016
Compressed lint
41 1/8 x 34 1/8 x 2 in
Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York

From left to right:

Peace is the only shelter, 2019
Duratrans print in LED light box
67.875 x 45.375 x 2.75 in
Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York

End the arms race not the human race, 2019
Duratrans print in LED light box
67.875 x 45.375 x 2.75 in
Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York

We don’t want to set the world on fire, 2019
Duratrans print in LED light box
67.875 x 45.375 x 2.75 in
Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York

Ed. 2 of 5

Kelly’s large projection animates an iconic photograph of the 1970 Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) demonstration in New York City. That event marked the 50th anniversary of the 19th amendment’s passage granting American women voting rights. Kelly’s students — dressed in 1970s-style clothing — gathered to create a tableau vivant of that image. This film literally blends two generations of peaceful resistance. The 2017 Women’s March in Kelly’s hometown of Los Angeles as well as cities around the world, and the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment in 2020, give this piece new relevance.

Lint panels quoting Kelly’s previous works are arranged in the nonlinear time of personal memory. They are interrupted by a linear political chronology, a narrow incision punctuated with text and red clocks. The metaphorical “Doomsday Clock,” set by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, counts down to humanity’s end, affected by human actions including pollution, new technologies, and war. Kelly begins with the U.S.S.R.’s development of atomic weapons and follows a trajectory of continuous conflict, insurrection, and protest that continues to the present. She merges her own history — the founding moments of the women’s movement, and the births of her son and grandson — with the progress and precarity of global events.

Left:
Shrew, December, 1970, 2017
Compressed lint
22 1/8 x 18 5/8 x 2 in
Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York

Right:
Study for Life, April, 1945, 2014
Compressed lint
21 1/8 x 18 5/8 x 2 in
Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York