Aby Mackie

Aby Mackie is a Barcelona-based artist whose wall-based sculptures are unified through a materials-led methodology combining storytelling and social commentary. Recurring themes can be identified as materialism, consumerism, value and memory. Each series investigates the interconnectedness of these themes through the language of materials.
Often in Barcelona, the contents of entire homes are either thrown onto the streets or auctioned off at Encants Vells market. The creation of Mackie’s work is driven by the selection and repurposing of objects and textiles from these two practices in order to explore ongoing cultural concerns. This roots Mackie’s artistic process in the everyday existence of the unrecognised, uncelebrated, unknown lives of Barcelona’s residents.
Mackie is captivated by the unobvious silent material witnesses to a life lived; a worn bed sheet, a stained tablecloth, a moth-eaten gown. Such artefacts bare the marks and physicality of human nature, possessing a poetic power. They are simultaneously valuable in their uniqueness and worthless in their deteriorated, decontextualized state. Each piece created from these objects is therefore both the artist’s personal expression of the hidden memories embedded in the ori...

2002-2003: MA with Honours in Fine Art, Nottingham Trent University,Nottingham, UK
1998-2001: First class BA degree with Honors Textile Design. Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Selected exhibitions:
2023 ‘Summer Gathering’ (group exhibition) Project Art Space, New York, USA
2023 ‘Making a Mark: The Art Of Self Expression’ (group exhibition) Women’s Art Centre of The
Hamptons, New York, USA
2022 ‘Allies For Art: Work from NATO/Related Countries’ (group exhibition) BrownGrotta Arts,
Connecticut, USA
2020 'Between Chaos and Order’ (solo exhibition), PA Galeria, Barcelona, Spain.
2018 ‘Somewhere Girl; Anybody’s Story’ (solo exhibition), Paella ShowRoom, Barcelona, Spain
2016 'Between Here and There’ (solo exhibition) Doble Zero, Barcelona, Spain
2004 ‘Poetic Cloth; Hidden Stories’ (solo exhibition) Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, UK
2002 ‘I’ve Been Here Before’ (solo exhibition), Djanogly Art Gallery,Nottingham, UK