Chinatown, New York
Brenda Mallory
Of Seasons and Cycles
MarinaroMarinaro is pleased to present Of Seasons and Cycles, the first New York solo exhibition by Brenda Mallory and her first exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition brings together new sculptures, wall reliefs, and works in glass that continue Mallory's investigation of transformation, resilience, memory, and the interconnected systems that shape both the natural world and human experience. An enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, Mallory has developed a distinctive sculptural language rooted in acts of reclamation. Working with found and discarded industrial materials—including thread spools, firehoses, honeycomb packing sheets, textiles, and waxed cloth—she dismantles objects associated with labor, manufacture, and consumption before reconstructing them into forms that evoke ecological systems, Indigenous knowledge, and the enduring capacity for renewal. Through these processes of deconstruction and repair, Mallory reveals the latent histories embedded within familiar materials while proposing new possibilities for connection and regeneration. The exhibition takes its title from the monumental wall relief Of Seasons and Cycles (2024), a fifteen-foot-long work composed of deconstructed industrial thread spools, waxed cloth, felt, and wood. The sculpture references the four-direction equilateral cross, a form found throughout Native American visual traditions as well as many cultures around the world. Beyond representing the cardinal directions, it symbolizes humanity's relationship to the natural world and the continual rhythms of seasonal change, life, and renewal. Constructed from thread spools sliced open to expose their inner structure, the work embodies Mallory's interest in uncovering hidden potential through transformation. A central spine of waxed felt strips suggests both physical and spiritual stability, while the painstaking act of dismantling materials allows them to emerge as something unexpectedly lush and resilient. Questions of cultural memory and transmission emerge in Record and Remember (2024), a monumental work constructed in the form of an oversized wampum belt. Traditionally, wampum belts served as repositories of knowledge, preserving histories, stories, agreements, and traditions through encoded patterns rather than written language. By rendering its design faint, nearly unreadable, Mallory reflects on the fragility of cultural memory and the profound consequences of language loss. Environmental stewardship and the consequences of human intervention are central to several new works in the exhibition. Now We Reap: Flat Fire (2026) is constructed from discarded linen firehoses recovered from a landfill, blackened with charcoal collected from the site of Oregon's Flat Fire. Bound together with threaded steel rods, the decommissioned hoses become poignant metaphors for society's inadequate response to the accelerating climate crisis. Once designed to protect landscapes from destruction, these obsolete tools are transformed into memorials for ecological loss while simultaneously suggesting the possibility of repair. The exhibition also includes works from Mallory's ongoing Reformed Packings series, made from reclaimed honeycomb packing material collected during her residency at Portland's Waste Transfer Station through the Glean Residency. Inspired by weaving traditions, the intersecting grids of these reliefs appear simultaneously ordered and unraveling, their geometric structures echoing both natural systems and handmade textiles. By repurposing materials discarded by contemporary systems of consumption, Mallory demonstrates how waste can become a site of renewal and beauty. Together with the luminous fused glass work Connections (Mantle) (2024) and North Star (To Lead) (2022), these sculptures reflect Mallory's sustained interest in the relationships between people, place, and the living environment. Throughout Seasons and Cycles, acts of binding, weaving, layering, and reconstruction become both formal strategies and philosophical propositions. Rather than seeking to erase rupture or restore an imagined original state, Mallory's sculptures embrace transformation itself, proposing resilience as an ongoing process of adaptation, remembrance, and care. Brenda Mallory (b. 1955, Claremore, OK) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Portland, Oregon, and an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. She has had major solo exhibitions at the Gorman Museum of Native Art, UC Davis, CA; the Hallie Ford Museum, Salem, OR and the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ. Her work has been featured in major exhibitions including The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2023), and Paper Trails: Unfolding Indigenous Narratives, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM. Her work is included in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; the Portland Art Museum, Oregon; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and numerous other public institutions. Marinaro will present a solo booth of Mallory's work at The Armory Show 2026. Seasons and Cycles marks the artist's first solo exhibition in New York.