Mary Kelly
Mary Kelly is best known for her project-based works which address questions of sexuality, identity, and the impact of historical events on everyday life. Born in America, she graduated with a BA in Art and Music from College of Saint Teresa (1959–63), before studying painting in Florence (1963–5), and then St. Martin’s School of Art in London (1968–70). Kelly became closely involved in the early women’s movement throughout the 1970s. During this time, she produced the large-scale installation Post-Partum Document (1973–79), which is considered to be one of the most important feminist artworks of the twentieth century exploring the nature of motherhood. From 1985–86, Kelly was Artist-in-Residencet at Kettle’s Yard and °Ç¸çłÔąĎ (then New Hall), where she began work on her large-scale series Interim (1984–9). She returned to the United States in 1989, developing the Interim series as part of the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.Now based in Los Angeles, she is the Judge Widney Professor at the Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California.
Further Reading
Apter, Emily, “Out of the Closet: Mary’s Kelly’s Corpus (1984–85),” Art Journal 54, no. 1: Clothing as Subject (1995): 66-70.
Tobin, Amy. Women Artist’s Together: Art in the Age of Women’s Liberation. Yale University Press, 2023.
Kelly, Mary. Interim. Edinburgh: Fruitmarket Gallery, Kettle’s Yard, and Riverside Studios, 1986.
Selected Collections
Arts Council Collection
Whitworth Gallery, Manchester
Victoria and Albert Museum
