Portrait of an Artist: Mierle Laderman Ukeles
August 17 2020 | Eleanor White
Whilst New York City museums and art galleries prepare for reopening at the end of this month, we at the Sanitation Foundation have been thinking of the artist who calls the New York City Department of Sanitation home: Mierle Laderman Ukeles.
Ukeles was appointed the first, official Artist-in-Residence at the New York City Department of Sanitation in 1977. This pairing of artist and agency, according to Queens Museum Curator Larissa Harris and Art Historian Patricia C. Phillips, “transformed our notions of public art” and the potential for cultural and municipal affiliation. Here is a ‘portrait’ of an artist:
Manifesto for Maintenance Art, 1969!
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, an excerpt of MANIFESTO FOR MAINTENANCE ART, 1969! Proposal for an exhibition: “CARE”, 1969. Written in Philadelphia, PA, October 1969. Four typewritten pages, each 8 ½ x 11 in. © Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
Typed in one sitting, Ukeles’ Manifesto for Maintenance Art, 1969! identifies the connection between her lived experience as an artist and mother with that of Sanitation Workers: maintenance, she outlines, has to do with care and sustenance, whether this work be looking after a child, a home, or a city - it is a hidden force that keeps things going.
Inspired by the principles of her manifesto, Ukeles performed a series of maintenance art interventions in the early 1970’s in which she took on the tasks of maintenance workers.This political body of public art called attention to “invisible” labor - work that goes unnoticed and is often underpaid and undervalued, but is nonetheless essential to the upkeep of someone, something, or someplace.
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, detail of “Washing/Tracks/Maintenance: Inside” (July 23, 1973),Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art ©Mierle Laderman Ukeles
The scale of her work changed in 1976 when Ukeles staged a collaborative performance with three hundred maintenance workers at the Whitney Museum of American Art. I Make Maintenance Art One Hour Every Day invited three hundred maintenance workers to consider one hour of their eight-hour work shift to be maintenance art. Critic David Bourdon reviewed the piece for the Village Voice, and ended with the following tongue-in-cheek suggestion:
Let’s hope that New York City’s financiers pursue the implications of Ukeles’s maintenance art. If the Department of Sanitation, for instance, could turn its regular work into a conceptual performance, the city might qualify for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Ukeles enclosed the clipping in a letter to the Commissioner of Sanitation Anthony Vaccarello, asking if he might be interested in having an Artist-in-Residence. And, soon later, she got a call from the Sanitation Department: “How would you like to make art with 10,000 NYC Sanitation Workers?” She responded: “I’ll be right over.”
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, detail of I Make Maintenance Art One Hour Every Day, 1976. Photo by Casey Dorobek. ©Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
Touch Sanitation
For a period of 11 months, from July 24, 1979, to June 26, 1980, through all four seasons, Ukeles followed in the footsteps of Sanitation Workers, shadowing their work-shifts from 6:00AM roll-call through the day, following their incredible endurance, and sharing meals with them on curbsides when restaurants didn't want to serve them. This was Ukeles’ first piece as Artist-in-Residence at DSNY: Touch Sanitation Performance.
The multifaceted performance included Handshake and Thanking Ritual, in which Ukeles shook the hand of all 8,500 Sanitation employees, saying to each “Thank you for keeping New York City alive.”
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Touch Sanitation Performance: "Handshake and Thanking Ritual" with Sanitation Workers of New York City Department of Sanitation, 1979-1980. © Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
A Touch Sanitation Story
A handshake and a thank you may seem silly, or inconsequential. Even Commissioner Steisel (DSNY Commissioner from 1978-1986), who supported Ukeles in her work, first thought Touch Sanitation Performance would be a “disaster.” Later, he admitted that the performance “opened up a hurt that each one [of the Sanitation Workers] was still carrying from when he felt humiliated.”
Ukeles recalls one story from a Brooklyn-5 Sanitation Worker she met during the Touch Sanitation Performance:
17 years ago, it was very hot. We stopped for break, and sat down on some lady’s porch steps. The lady came out of her house and said: ‘Get away from here, you smelly garbagemen. I don’t want you smelling up my porch.’ That stuck in my throat for all these 17 years. Today you wipe that out: will you remember that?
We at the Sanitation Foundation––following the call made by Andrew Russeth––think it’s time we stage new versions of Ukeles' Handshake and Thanking Ritual. We started with a simple mission. We wanted to humanize our workforce and celebrate their talents. The men and women of our department are on the front lines every day working tirelessly to keep our city healthy, safe, and clean. It’s rare that we repeat the words of Ukeles, which carry even more weight in these unprecedented times: “Thank you for keeping New York City alive.”
DSNY Art Show
We want to say thank you in a slightly different way. This Fall, the artwork of our talented workforce will be featured in a digital pop-up exhibition sponsored by our partner Mack Trucks.
Join us in celebrating how truly unique the NYC Department of Sanitation workforce is.
If you’re interested in learning more about the pop-up DSNY Art Show, check out our museum programming: https://www.sanitationfoundation.org/museum
And, for more information about Mierle Laderman Ukeles, check out these helpful links: