Introduction

Mary Mattingly is an American artist known for her work that intersects environmental activism, social issues, and art. She often focuses on sustainability, ecological issues, and the impacts of climate change. Mattingly is best known for her large-scale public projects like Swale.

Swale is a public art project created by Mary Mattingly in 2016. It is a floating food forest situated on a barge, designed to move along New York City’s waterways. The project features edible plants and allows visitors to freely harvest fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The barge also hosts educational workshops and community events related to urban agriculture and environmental sustainability.

Discussion Keywords:

• Reclaiming Food Sovereignty in Urban Spaces

• Food as a Public Resource vs. Private Commodity

• Food Security and Climate Change

Reflection

The first thing I want to stress is a theme that emerged in the discussion after my presentation: the gaps in the law to activate environmental art. What’s worth noticing but I didn’t cover in my presentation is that it is illegal to plant, garden, or grow plants in public lands without proper authorization in New York City, however, there’s no clear prohibition on water areas which is why Mattingly made such a garden floating on the river. By playing with or challenging authority control, this artwork provides a strong sense of critique as an environmental-activated art. It prompts us to question the boundaries of public and private domains, inviting a dialogue on the intersection of art, environment, and governance in shaping our shared landscapes.

A class material that came later than my presentation but I found highly related was the TED Talk by Kate Raworth. The key to building a circular economy is developing distributive design that localize resources. By growing plants and vegetables on a floating barge, Mattingly not only demonstrates the potential for localized resource utilization but also advocates for a more equitable distribution of food and resources within urban environments.

Another reading I mentioned in my presentation but didn’t have time to dive deeper into was Art Activist: Nature, Culture, and Art-based Environmental Movement. According to this article, the cultural role played by art activists like Mattingly becomes crucial in initiating dialogues and offering creative solutions to environmental challenges. Swale's innovative approach to utilizing urban waterways for food production exemplifies how art can inspire and mobilize communities to rethink their relationship with the environment. By blending artistic expression with environmental advocacy, projects like Swale contribute to a broader conversation on the interconnectedness of culture, nature, and sustainability, inviting collective action and dialogue towards a more environmentally conscious future.