A new documentary titled "Maintenance Artist," directed by Toby Perl Freilich, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this month. The film follows Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the longtime unpaid artist-in-residence with New York City's Department of Sanitation, as she reflects on her career. It traces her journey from graduate student at Pratt Institute to pioneering maintenance art, including her Queens Museum retrospective and international projects elevating everyday workers. The documentary features interviews with art historians, curators, and city officials, and highlights Ukeles's iconic performances, such as shaking hands with every sanitation worker over 11 months.
This documentary matters because it brings renewed attention to Ukeles's influential but often overlooked practice, which anticipated contemporary discourses on labor, environmentalism, and care. By centering the dignity of maintenance work—especially that of sanitation workers—Ukeles's art challenges traditional hierarchies in the art world and society. The film also underscores the enduring relevance of her ideas amid current conversations about essential workers and social infrastructure, while spotlighting the challenges of distributing independent art documentaries in a shifting media landscape.