Artist Mary Mattingly will discuss art-making as a vocation, with a focus on co-creating regenerative public art. She will also talk in depth about specific projects, including building the floating food forest, Swale, and the absurdity of bundling her possessions for performances.

Mary Mattingly is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores ecological relationships through sculptural ecosystems, performance, and research-based collaborations. Rooted in inquiry into ecology and interdependence, her work addresses issues around water, food systems, and climate adaptation. At the core of Mattingly’s practice is a belief in art as a form of investigation and a tool for imagining adaptive futures. Her installations often function both symbolically and practically: creating space for gathering, co-learning, and reflecting on systems of resource extraction and ecological resilience.