A discussion with filmmaker Toby Perl Freilich, moderated by Mimi Swartz, executive editor of “Texas Monthly,” follows each screening.

After motherhood disrupted her career as an artist, Mierle Laderman Ukeles published a daring manifesto in 1969: From that point on, all her acts of childcare and household maintenance would be performance art. The manifesto propelled Ukeles into the avant-garde as she reframed public and performance art through collaborations with often-invisible workers.

In 1977 Ukeles engineered an unprecedented artist residency at the NYC Sanitation Department and decades later was honored with a retrospective at the Queens Museum. The riveting documentary Maintenance Artist finds Ukeles reflecting on her career and involvement with the impassioned social and artistic upheavals of the late 20th century.

“Toby Perl Freilich situates Ukeles as not only an advocate for women and for labor as art, but also for art as a truly democratic endeavor, one geared toward liberation of all people.” —Brian Boucher, artnet.com

Tickets

• $9 general admission; $7 MFAH members, students with ID, seniors (65+)

Plan Your Visit

• This screening takes place in Lynn Wyatt Theater in the Kinder Building.
• Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map