JULY, 2017

Mary Addison Hackett, Sweeping in Wonder Valley, Amboy Road, Wonder Valley, California, July 6, 2017. [Photo by Meg Madison]


This past summer I relocated my home and studio to Joshua Tree, California. June was spent looking for a place to live and work. I purchased an average size parcel just large enough to engage with my immediate environment on a daily basis. Priorities have included home repairs and learning the ways of the desert. While painting has been a major part of my studio practice—video, writing, photography, and time-based works have become increasingly important as ways of communicating and interacting. Maintenance, both absurd and practical, has been a theme in my work for 25 years and the desert does not disappoint with regard to source material. The desert does not lend itself to being domesticated, and yet…