Meet Mallory Shotwell | Interdisciplinary Artist // Director of an Arts Organization

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mallory Shotwell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mallory, how do you think about risk?
Risk taking: how do you think about risk, what role has taking risks played in your life/career?

Risk is inherently balance. A careful dance between safety and danger. Sometimes we elect to have this risk, this dance, and sometimes we find ourselves in it.

I relate to risk as it is built into my very identity. Something I want, something I don’t. An aspect of myself that I hate and love. It has informed every decision I have made, and everything that I do.

I have a gene called chek2, which puts me at a higher risk for breast, ovarian, colon, thyroid, and skin cancer. I also have a high family risk of breast cancer, as my Mom was 37 when she was first diagnosed. She passed away at the age of 45.

Risk wafted across the blanket that my Mom floated over the bed as she told me the cancer was back. Risk held me when it was hard. Risk moved with me when it was beautiful, because there was beauty. Risk was there, always there, when we knew it was the end.

Risk is in my mind, my actions, when I found out that I have this gene. I had suspected for years. When you’re a young person, 19, and you know you have a strong chance of knowing what your genes hold, it changes -everything-. I always knew, always, that life is something we get to experience this one time. There was a hastened preciousness to everything, a pressing need to see and feel and do what we can, when we can.

Risk has been a blessing and a curse. It grants me such perspective and such a privilege to see, or maybe to need to see, so clearly. Life is for living, and I have lived a most extraordinary little life. Life is for sharing and making it more beautiful for the world, and I’ve made it my mission in my life and work to do so. Life is one time, this one life we have.

Truthfully, I don’t know if I will get one of these cancers or not. I know that four years ago I have 90% risk of getting breast cancer, so I had what I thought would be a prophylactic mastectomy. They found tumors, but I didn’t need chemotherapy. I was 34. Chronic pain, long recoveries, and my own cancer story that I carry.

Risk has informed my art and this body of work called “Suspended Self: The Liminal Space of Breast Cancer.” It is a comprehensive study and visual articulation of breast cancer – all of it. Collecting stories from women all over the world – 875 stories and 7 countries so far. It will be composed of 10 pieces visually sharing aspects of breast cancer – from artifacts of it, to waiting, and fear, and grief, and hope. The pieces are beautiful, aesthetically pleasing to bring people into the work, and then seeing the magnitude of it all.

Risk has informed how I formed my business – an arts organization called Cultivate. Honestly, and this is a lot to share, but one of the things we can do with this one beautiful life we have is to try to make the world better. I have seen the impact of art, education and community and operating our of the intersection of these things is so stong and beautiful. To see strangers becoming friends, for people to have ah-ha moments, or becoming more confident in what they’re doing with people around them – that is it. Cultivating all of it.

I have danced with risk my whole life. Life and death. Safety and danger. I wish I didn’t. I wish I didn’t carry this – the gene, the weight, the memory, but at the same time, I am so glad that I do. That I can hold it, because it means that I am still here, aware, living, and dancing.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and director of Cultivate. Cultivate offers a contemporary art gallery, arts education, and artist resource center. It’s been a lifetime of learning, observing, and listening. In terms of branding, story, and developing a consistent body of work: stand authentically in your story, be wholly and entirely yourself, and operate out of that space.

My art and curatorial practice is largely informed by my experience as a Montessori teacher and love for the community. Understanding and respecting that everyone has a different learning style, it’s important to offer a variety of points of engagement. 2d work with drawings, alternative style photography, but also interactive installation. Utilizing the environment as a medium, I curate and create an experience for the viewer to become a participant. One of the pieces for this interactive installation work in this current project is based on waiting gowns – I am collecting stories of waiting – waiting for a test result, waiting for a surgery, waiting for an appointment, waiting for chemotherapy, etc. I have purchased various waiting gowns in the breast cancer experience, deconstructing the patterns, remaking/sewing them back them loosely with painted gauze, and writing the stories on the fabric. Some of these gowns will have weights sewn into the hemlines. Participants at the exhibition may try on these gowns, feeling the weight of their stories and reading it as they literally wear the stories on their sleeves. These gowns are designed to be ephemeral, worn down per use, so that in time it will crumble.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
What a fun question! I do this day with my son, and we have “Favorite Things” day – where we take turns having a day to do all of our favorite things. A lot of my favorite things and places are definitely spots I would show a friend. (For this, we’ll just pretend it is summer, and not the 30 degree March weather that it actually is in Michigan right now.)

To narrow it all down, we’ll just say that it’d have to be a Saturday. We’d bike down to the Fulton Street Farmers Market. There’s always music, food cooking, artists selling work, and all of the farmer booths. We have our favorites – Blandford Farm, our favorite vegan donut shop, pick up a coffee, and maybe a peppermint plant.

Head on over to Wilcox Park, this huge and beautiful park in Eastown area, and eat the goodies. Maybe read for a while. Listen to some music. Walk around the Eastown area and shop at the used bookstore and boutique stores.

Maybe a nap!

Heading west side for dinner – my favorite restaurant is there. It’s a street that reminds me of New Orleans or NYC – it has a great movement and aliveness to it.

Scooting downtown for drinks and seeing a band. The lights of downtown are reflected on the Grand River and it’s really gorgeous.

The places sort of matter, but really it’s the details – friends, laughing, exploring, nature, music, talking!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am so utterly grateful to have so many teachers and guides throughout my life. From my parents, to teachers that acted as pivot points to the life that I would eventually lead, to authors and poets that are guideposts for life.

That said – it’s SO hard to pick! The first person that comes to mind is Sonya Renee Taylor. Sonya is a spoken word poet, activist, author, educator, and overall amazing human. I believe that her book “The Body is Not an Apology” should be required reading for everyone – there is so much to it, and it is such a Pandora’s box of enlightenment and wisdom, I can’t sum it up to serve it well. She shares concepts of shame, oppression, authenticity, radical self-love, and social justice. Her words are revolutionary and act as pivot points, or gamechangers, to people’s lives. One of the points that really resonates with me was the concept that we are all collectively climbing this comparison ladder of who is better, who is worse. We identify and point fingers at the climbing, but we need to dismantle the ladder itself. We need to get off the ladder.

(Paraphrasing without proper justice. She is the poet – definitely read her work!)

Website: https://www.malloryshotwell.com/

Instagram: @mallory.shotwell

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malloryshotwell/

Other: Cultivate website: https://www.cultivategrandrapids.org Cultivate Instagram: @cultivategr

Image Credits
The black and white photo is a tintype photo, by Bud Kibby