Mandy's profile
My life has been shaped by constant movement—growing up in multiple locations across the US. Each place was a new beginning and art became a refuge and a language I could carry from one place to the next. It was a default home, that allowed me to process the world. Every place I've lived in or visited holds its own unique story and energy; a personality that I try to understand through the lens of my work.
What is this place about?
How does it feel?
What makes it distinct and worth reflecting on?
After studying at RISD, I moved to New York City working as a designer in the fashion industry. I created patterns for printed fabric, an experience that became an unexpected bridge in my work. Over time, I saw connections between patterns on cloth, and the repetitive motions of the body as we move through different spaces and social roles. It was an awakening, to realize how repetition in design and movement could carry meaning, emotion, and even resistance.
Living in the Midwest was another pivotal chapter. It was there that I encountered performance and video artists who profoundly influenced my practice. These interactions nudged me toward video and performance as primary mediums, shifting the way I thought about art. At the same time, working at a Chicago newspaper, I became increasingly aware of how my daily repeated movements and routines—shaped both my physicality and my sense of self.
In the late 90's I returned to New York City, creating projects combining video and live performance. One of my videos Desperado, was featured in the 2000 Whitney Biennial as well as in a number of national and international festival venues. During those years time, I felt the urge to deepen my inquiry into the shifting landscape of technology and its impact on human experience. This led me to pursue an MFA in Intermedia and Digital Arts at UMBC in Baltimore, where I focused on the intersection of place, movement, social class, in the looming age of artificial intelligence. Much of my research involved collaborating with the Dance Department to explore physicality and the social structures that shape the way bodies move through space.
In January of 2021, my six-channel video installation work Spirits of Promise and Loss was part of a group exhibition "Codex" at the Center for Visual Art, Culture and Design, UMBC’s gallery space in Baltimore, and in 2023, I had a solo exhibit of my work at the Peale Museum, in Baltimore,“Journey of the Invader Spirit” (begun during an artist fellowship/residency at Instituto Sacatar in Brazil). During that residency I worked with the staff and a local Capoeira group to create the video installation, of the same name, for the show.
In 2024, I had the privilege of being in residence at Foundation B.a.d. in Rotterdam, where I was exposed to a broad spectrum of contemporary work from Northern Europe. This experience inspired me to consider more community-based, participatory elements into my projects. I realized that the work I was creating could be a vehicle for connection, a way to bring people together and invite them to be part of the conversation.
As the lead artist working with curator Aleem Allison, we began an initiative for the creation of the video installation A Media Quilt Project, a collaborative work that was created from an open call of video clips, which was shown at the 410 Lofts Gallery in downtown Baltimore in January-March of 2025. The installation located in a challenging neighborhood, ran at night in street-facing space in the Bromo Arts District. Several community events were held to generate discussion and to celebrate the participants. The project received support from the Deutsch Foundation and from the Maryland state Council on the Arts.
Currently I am in preparation for the creation of an interactive project "Damhsa / Kwarewa", working with participants that will take place in UMBC's (pi) Squared interactive Lab in the Spring of 2026. The project has received preliminary funding from the Maryland State Council on the Arts.
These explorations continue to nourish my curiosity, driving me to question how bodies, spaces, and movements can be transformed by collaboration and shared experiences.
