Mary Mattingly is an interdisciplinary artist who co-creates sculptural ecosystems that address forms of public food and commons in New York City. In 2020 she was the Brooklyn Public Library’s Artist in Residence and launched Public Water with +More Art, a project that comprised a history of New York City’s Drinking Watershed with a sculpture that mimicked the watershed while cleaning water.
In 2016 she co-launched Swale, a mobile free public food forest on a barge in New York City. Docked at public piers but following waterways common laws, Swale circumnavigated New York’s public land laws, allowing anyone to pick free fresh food. The project helped instigate the first public “foodway” in New York City at Concrete Plant Park, the Bronx in 2017.