Martha McDonald
McDonald is an interdisciplinary artist who makes performance installations, often in historic houses and gardens, that draw on the site and its stories to explore how these public places connect with personal histories and emotional states. Her performances blend singing of early music and folksong with lectures, autobiographical monologues and handcrafted costumes and textiles that she activates to transmit narrative. Through deep research and hand making, she mines social history, period fashion and historic music to reflect on the present. Her work has been presented in Berlin, Melbourne, Sydney, San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia.
Awarded Grants
2014
Art and Change Grant (ACG)
Related grantees
Overview
Martha will create a performance installation at The Woodlands, a Victorian cemetery in West Philadelphia. The project explores the fragile nature of memory and highlights the lineage of women who preserve family and community memories through the making of memorial handcrafts. Dressed in Victorian costume, Martha will lead the audience on a song-tour of the cemetery, singing Appalachian folk songs about longing and loss, telling stories about the lost garden, and exploring how class and social status determine who was memorialized at The Woodlands and who was relegated to the anonymity of a potter’s field. Martha will also facilitate knitting workshops along with a performance and exhibition.
Partner
2003
Window of Opportunity Grant (WOO)
Related grantees
Overview
Premiere of new work exploring mythological heroines at the Prince Music Theatre. Support towards materials, honoraria and travel expenses.
