The Poetics of Maintenance: The Visionary World of Mierle Laderman Ukeles Mierle Laderman Ukeles stands apart as an artist whose work fundamentally interrogates the relationship between art, labor, and urban life. Born in Denver, Colorado, in 1939, to a rabbi, her artistic journey began at Barnard College where she pursued studies in history and international relations before honing her craft at Pratt Institute in New York City. It was here that Ukeles’s groundbreaking approach – what she termed “maintenance art” – emerged, challenging conventional notions of artistic creation and redefining…