Mary Kelly (b. 1941, Fort Dodge, Iowa) lives and works in Los Angeles. Regarded as one of the preeminent figures in feminist art, Kelly has also had a profound impact on postmodernism and cultural politics in her writing and teaching. Her path-making practice has influenced generations of artists and remains as vital today as at any time in her five-decade long career.
In 2024, she premiered Lacunae (2023), the first section of a new, six-part body of work entitled Addendum (2023) in the 2024 Whitney Biennial, New York, NY; it has since been acquired by the museum. Earlier this year the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN acquired the second part of Addendum, Calculus (2024).
Last year, Bloomsbury published Mary Kelly's Concentric Pedagogy: Selected Writings, edited by Juli Carson. Her work recently featured in Ideas Into Action: 1965-1980, a collection presentation at Tate Britain, London; Vital Signs, Artists and the Body, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2024-2025); Women in Revolt! Art, Activism and the Women’s Movement in the United Kingdom 1970 – 1990, Whitworth, Manchester (2025), travelled from Tate Britain, London (2023-24) and The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2024-25); and Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Dundee Contemporary Arts (2025), travelled from Arnolfini, Bristol (2024), Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham (2024) and Millennium Gallery, Sheffield (2024-25). She is currently included in the exhibition, Echo Delay Reverb, at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2025-2026).
Kelly’s work has been the subject of major institutional exhibitions at ICA, London (1976 and 1993); Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1977); Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (1986); New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY (1990); Vancouver Art Gallery (1991); Generali Foundation, Vienna (1998); Santa Monica Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (2001); Center for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (2008); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2010); Whitworth, Manchester (2011); Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC (2019); and Art Gallery of Guelph, Ontario (2023), travelled from De La Cruz Art Gallery, Georgetown University, Washington, DC (2022). In addition to the 2024 edition, Kelly was represented in the 1991 and 2004 Whitney Biennials; Documenta 12, Kassel (2007); Biennale of Sydney (1982 and 2008); and Desert X Biennale Coachella Valley, CA (2019). In 2015, she was awarded the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.
Kelly’s work is included in numerous public collections, including Tate, London; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; MOCA, Los Angeles, CA; Arts Council England; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; New Museum, New York, NY; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and many others. In 2017, Kelly’s archive was acquired by the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA.