A new documentary, Maintenance Artist, profiles Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the longtime unpaid artist-in-residence at the New York City Sanitation Department. Directed by Toby Perl Freilich, the film traces Ukeles’s nearly five decades of work honoring sanitation workers through large-scale public performances and conceptual art. Now 86, Ukeles continues to shape projects across the city, including ongoing work transforming the former Fresh Kills Landfill into a public park.

Ukeles first proposed her radical idea during New York City’s fiscal crisis in the 1970s, suggesting that sanitation work itself could be understood as conceptual art. Her landmark projects include Touch Sanitation Performance, in which she shook hands with thousands of sanitation workers to recognize their dignity and labor. Though sometimes dubbed the city’s ‘trash artist,’ her work focuses less on refuse itself and more on elevating overlooked forms of maintenance and care.

Rooted in her upbringing as the daughter of an Orthodox rabbi, Ukeles’s art draws deeply from Jewish values, including the belief that all people are created in the divine image and deserving of respect. While she resists being labeled solely as a Jewish artist, themes of freedom, equality, and repairing the world run throughout her work. The film highlights how her spiritual commitments and feminist vision have shaped a singular career redefining both art and public service.