Hello, Nashville. Nice to Meet you

Hello, Nashville! I’m Susan O’Malley, an artist based in Berkeley, California. Thank you (actually, “thanks ya’ll”) for being so nice to me during my residency at the Parthenon Museum for the FLEX IT! My Body My Temple exhibition. I’ve loved visiting your city.

Inspirational Signs (2012), billboard installation, Torun, Poland

I create work to connect with others. I’ve given pep talks in parking lots, asked for advice from strangers, distributed flyers in neighborhood mailboxes, and installed inspirational signs in public spaces.  All this in the name of art.

Mantras For the Urban Dweller, 2013, Installation at Muni Station, San Francisco, CA

For interactive and collaborative projects like the Pep Talk Squad (2005-ongoing), the conversation with others is the artwork. Left to right: Christina Amini and Susan O'Malley

I am interested in shifting familiar exchanges into experiences that allow for a space of possibility. I create projects in order to feel connected to my self and others, and hopefully, if something is going right, the work will provide insight as we grapple with the complexity of our internal and external worlds.

For Community Advice (2013), the back and forth with others served as the material to create the work. I asked people: What advice would you give your 8-year-old self? What advice would you give your 80-year-old self? I used the responses to create a series of letterpress posters that were hung in the community. 

For the Parthenon, I’m creating a series of signs that will be installed in Centennial Park around the perimeter of the Parthenon. My hope is the signs will invite you to engage with the building in a new way, or maybe even reframe how you already see the Parthenon (more soon on this project in a future post). Visit here again and I’ll post about my project and process. For now, thanks for reading this far. Your friend, Susan.