Mary Stuart Walker is a multi-disciplinary Artist living in Atlanta whose work questions our understanding of landownership and how we represent the landscape. Her latest body of work “A Momentary Territory” reflects on our orientation on Earth, and how we define a space or territory using cyanotype prints and ceramic sculptures. One of the most important means of orienting ourselves is through the horizon line. “A landscape without a horizon line becomes something strange; a perspective that flattens the depth and distance that define a landscape,” says Mary Stuart. “Looking at space from below or above dislocates us from our grounded home.”
The cyanotype prints in "A Momentary Territory" were made looking up at the sky while standing on the Eastern Continental Divide. The ever-changing sky above contrasts with the permanency of the Earth below. “If I took these photographs before or after the moment they were taken, they would be different and, yet, I never moved,” says Mary Stuart. “The circle becomes an unnatural boundary, a way of circumscribing a new territory that only exists in the image. We must assume we are floating above the houses to make sense of their diminutive size. Caught between the Earth and the sky, perspective shifts and we see the world anew.”
"Fractured Landscape #1," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 41.5 by 59.5 inches framed
"Vertical Horizon," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 25.5 by 31.5 inches framed
"Dappled Sky," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 25.5 by 31.5 inches framed
"Bright Echo," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 32.5 by 41.5 inches framed
"Infinite Entanglement," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 32.5 by 41.5 inches framed
"Budding Circle," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 32.5 by 41.5 inches framed
"Blank Sky," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 32.5 by 41.5 inches framed
"Passing Through," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 25.5 by 31.5 inches framed
"Branched," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 25.5 by 31.5 inches framed
"Fractured Landscape #2," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 41.5 by 59.5 inches framed
"Canopy #2," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 25.5 by 31.5 inches framed
"Canopy # 1," cyanotype on mulberry paper, 25.5 by 31.5 inches framed
"Constructed Panorama," glazed stoneware in Plexiglas shadow box, 36 by 24 inches
Mary Stuart received an MA in Art Education from UGA and an MFA in Studio Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art, MICA. A Hambidge Fellow, she has completed residencies at Georgia Tech, Volatile Parts and Chashama. She was the MFAST Artist in Residence at the University of the Arts Bremen, Germany where she exhibited at Gallery Flut. Her book Hear and There was published by Volatile Parts, and her work has been published in Brink Literary Journal. Mary Stuart has exhibited at 1708 Gallery’s public art event InLight, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and has a sculpture on the Atlanta Beltline. Mary Stuart’s practice is driven by a desire to give form to the immaterial so that we can experience encounters that are immeasurable.
AVAILABLE WORKS