TL;DR:

Mandy Messina (b. 1987, South Africa) makes a living doing landscape maintenance, and creates concepts, objects and experiences.

Previous series have included, hand-embroidered enlargements of their travel visas, identity cards, and various licenses; a vignette of a future graphic novel about “Kitchen Dutch” (Afrikaans) painted on ceramic tiles; and a series of performances which provided the experience of applying for a passport to a speculative world.

They have attended several artist residences including, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (2017), ACRE (2018), The Wassaic Project (2018), Elsewhere: A Living Museum (2018), and The Vermont Studio Center (2018).

They are no longer on social media platforms, but a quarterly newsletter is available if you scroll to the very bottom.

Studied sculpture » graduated during an economic collapse » taught English in South Korea » met a charming Okie » found myself living in the USA »

Worked in arts administration » left to be a fulltime artist prematurely » worked in grocery store » attended a string of artist residencies (USA) » had group exhibitions out of state » whoopsie… a global pandemic »

Became obsessed with growing plants outside » nursery job at landscaping company »

Let’s Work Together