''Maintenance Artist''

Since 1977, Mierle Laderman Ukeles has been artist-in-residence at New York City's Department of Sanitation. 

Her first project there was Touch Sanitation Performance. For almost a year, Mierle followed sanitation workers throughout the day, even sharing meals with them. She also shook hands with the employees--a total of 8,500--and thanked them for ''keeping New York City alive.''

Her artwork is said to blur the boundaries between labor and performance, and uncover connections between feminism, work, the city, and the environment. 

Mierle is now the subject of a documentary. Maintenance Artist  has been at a few film festivals. 

The next stop is the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, on the 19th and 25th of July. 

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