06/24/2026
Named a 2025 Joan Mitchell Fellow, Brenda Mallory’s recent interview with the Joan Mitchell Foundation explores her practice as it has evolved, the role of materiality in the work, and her ongoing love of the adventure of making.
An excerpt the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s “In the Studio” with Brenda Mallory: “I work mainly, though not exclusively, with reclaimed or found materials, addressing issues of sustainability and ideas of resilience and creativity through ‘making do’ with what is available or at hand. I deal with ideas of disruption in nature and cultures and how systems might be profoundly changed but adapt and survive even under duress or damage. I like to show seams, mends, and repairs.
These ideas were present when I first started my practice, but I was mainly thinking about environmental issues like climate change and genetic modification of plants in our food systems, and how the commodification of seeds and food systems was a form of power and domination. As time has gone on, I have focused more on how these issues are present in the history of my Cherokee ancestors and how, despite deliberate efforts to assimilate the culture out of existence, we still thrive.”
To read the full article, visit the link in our bio.
Brenda Mallory’s first solo exhibition with the gallery will open in September 2026, alongside a solo presentation at The Armory Show in New York opening September 24, 2026.
Brenda Mallory Joan Mitchell Foundation
Images:
Brenda Mallory with Old Homeplace, 2024
Brenda Mallory, Rising, 2025. Waxed cloth, hog rings mounted on welded grid, 93 x 56 x 4. Photo by Mario Gallucci.
Brenda Mallory, Old Homeplace, 2024. Encaustic, oil paint, rice paper, cloth, hog rings on wood panels, 135 x 180 x 2 inches.
Brenda Mallory, Now We Reap: Flat Fire, 2026. Deconstructed firehose, charcoal from Flat Fire near Sisters, Oregon, pigment, threaded rods, nuts, 54 x 32 x 3 inches.
