CityLife

Exhibition: Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly 1 / 2 images

Whitworth Art Gallery - from February 18, 2011 (Friday)

Forty years as a working artist and Mary Kelly is still best known for dirty nappies. The American has enjoyed a long career but there’s been no getting away from what she displayed in her 1976 exhibition Post-Partum Document.

The soiled nappies of Mary’s baby son caused quite a, er, stink in the press when they were shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Thirty-five years on they are back on show at the Whitworth Art Gallery as it hosts an exhibition looking back at Mary’s work.

Post-Partum Document looks at the relationship between a mother and her child. Stained nappy liners are displayed alongside descriptions of what the child had eaten that day. It’s like a bizarre baby scrap-book.

Having been ankle deep in dirty nappies for the last 18 months, I can tell you art was the last thing I thought they were fit for. Yet the preserved poo-stains are the most memorable part of this collection, the largest and most comprehensive retrospective of Mary’s work.

Artists attempting to shock to attract attention have become tiresome. But Mary insists that was never her intention with the nappies and instead she was documenting her experiences as a mother.

“I tried to keep account of what was really emotionally significant at the time,” she says.

“That terrifying moment when you have to introduce solid food to you child.  You feel so out of control. And the only way you know you’re doing all right is what comes out. So it becomes very monumental in terms of being a good mother.”

I was warned to expect a formidable woman, but Mary is softly-spoken and thoughtful. She doesn’t seem like an artist seeking to shock. “I wasn’t trying to cause a sensation. It was an attempt to deal with something that’s quite universal but at the same time it’s very specific to my experience.”

I ask how her son feels, as a man approaching 40, about having his dirty laundry shown in public again. She laughs a little nervously at this question and never quite answers it. Her son is a photographer and the pair have exhibited together in the past.

Happily, there’s about to be a fresh supply of nappies in her life. “I’m about to become a grandmother. I won’t be doing it again.”

Mary progressed from Post-Partum Document to have a career of distinction. She’s now an art professor at the University of California. This new exhibition takes over most of the Whitworth’s ground floor, and showcases four decades of art.

“This brings more of my work together than I’ve ever had before. There’ll never be another show like this for me in terms of my emotional investment in it.”

It also includes new pieces such as Habitus which is based on an Anderson Shelter used during the Second World War. It features written memories of those born during or after the war ended.

Yet Post-Partum Document is the stand out work. Away from the nappies it includes baby rompers and early attempts at writing made by Mary’s son. It’s a strangely moving take on motherhood.

“I did it because I started to see how important the psychological investment a mother makes in her child is,” she says.

Admission free. Open seven days a week.