Nancy Macko: Flowers, Bees, and a Passion for Justice

Nancy Macko is an artist who takes photographs of flowers and makes prints and installations, usually related to nature; almost all of the work intimates her strong interest in the world of ecology, in particular the world of bees; and the strong desire to promote equality for women, with a special emphasis on female artists. Born in New York, and educated at the University of Wisconsin and Berkeley, Macko has spent most of her adult life in Southern California, where she is professor of art at Scripps College. She is an artist dedicated to revealing the subtle intimacies of nature; using a macro lens to capture the details of flowers. In doing so, Macko also establishes a striking metaphor for the erotic life of women, a subject that often holds sway in her art. In conjunction with her artistic activities, Macko has been a strong advocate of feminist causes. Without transparently communicating her political concerns, the artwork can be read in light of her social passion: both her flower imagery and her interest in the lives of the bees presents, by implication, an alternative to the ongoing crisis in ecology and the expanding concerns of feminist art. Thus, Macko is an artist for whom aesthetics and justice are intertwined; her view in art, though, is implicit rather than overtly expressed.