Mariah Robertson
October 15, 2023

The photogenic photographer and community-builder Mariah Robertson joins the Selection Committee with a Gen-X-inflected mixtape and some amazing stories.

Robertson came of age in San Francisco, looking at people from Adrian Piper and Trevor Paglin to the iconic drag queen Heklina. Her work has been inflected by both the 90s San Francisco scene and her deep interest in Eastern religions.

Most of her work involves darkroom techniques of photographic abstraction. She combines subversive imagery, the magic of chance and intuition, and the technical exactitude of photographic chemistry. She has been working for a long time against traditional conventions in photography, and her work has been an inspiration for subsequent generations of experimental photographers.

Mariah has also been deeply involved in building community for artists, including work on artist-run gallery spaces and her essential artist listserv “Listuations.” She also makes instruments for non-musicians for her band Universe—“literally everyone is in it.”

We discuss her current shows at Van Doren Waxter and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and her upcoming book “Book of Details”!

1. The Passenger, Siouxsie & the Banshees, 1987
   
2. Murder Was The Case, Snoop Dogg, 1993
   
3. A Rainbow in the Curved Air - Instrumental, Terry Riley, 1969
   
4. Keshava Murahara, Alice Coltrane, 19878
   
5. A Forest - Tree Mix (2018 remaster); The Cure, 1990
   
6. Smalltown Boy, Bronski Beat, 1984
   
7. Bitch Better Have My Money, Rihanna, 2015
8. Let Me Ride, Dr. Dre & Jewell with Snoop Dogg, 1992
9. The Chauffeur (2009 Remaster), Duran Duran, 1982
   
10. Earth People, Dr. Octagon, 1996
11. Rail De Musique, Stromae, 2010
12. One Caress (2006 remaster), Depeche Mode, 1993
13. bâtard, Stromae, 2013
14. Nuclear War, Sun Ra, 1984
    
15. Dark Entries, Bauhaus, 1980
16. Laser Attack Wicked, Scientist, 1981
    
17. Ghost Town, The Specials, 1981
    
18. Relapse, Nastie Band, 2019
    
19. Ain't No Future In Yo' Frontin'; MC Breed, DFC; 1991
20. Blood Of Africa, King Tubby & Lee “Scratch” Perry, 2012
21. The Side of Man and Womankind, Tony Conrad & Faust, 2016
    
22. Love and Happiness, Al Green, 1975

Mariah Robertson is an artist living in Brooklyn, but who's heart/mind remain in a bubble of California. Her sensibilities are grounded in conceptual performance work then applied to the medium and culture of photography and the resulting works are often not images but objects which interact with a space. She wants you to know that this work comes from a paradoxical place of political and feminist rage and deep fascination with photography and its power on the human mind. She also wants you to know that she spends a lot of her time on other projects, most of which are not publicly seen, like drawing, painting, printing, video, homemade musical instruments and sculptures which look suspiciously like Memphis Design group cat furniture. Her upcoming book is available for pre-order here!