Soot to Soil
Artist Rodney McMillian isn’t precious about his work—embracing the marks of time, viewers, and the environment as part of its evolving story
Still from Rodney McMillian: Soot to Soil, 2025, Artist Dialogues series, showing two people viewing his painting Untitled (Orange Hills), 2022–2023
Body Content
Rodney McMillian doesn’t see wear and tear as damage. For him, it’s part of the life of his artwork.
Take his environmental sculpture a beckoning: We Are Not Who We Think We Are (2014–2015). McMillian welcomed viewers and their unprotected shoes into a curved corridor lined with canvas layered in latex, ink, and acrylic, drenched in moody blues. “I love the marks that people make when they're invited into the work,” he says. “Otherwise, it would be pointless to have them be in it.”
On display for nine months in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, the immersive installation endured heat, humidity, sand—and even a touch of mold—becoming a living record of its surroundings. “Whatever is left on the object is what's left on the object. I'm not precious about that,” McMillian says.
In the Getty Conservation Institute’s latest Artist Dialogues film, McMillian discusses a beckoning alongside his wide-ranging practice, which spans painting, sculpture, video, installation, and performance. He reflects on how his work transforms everyday materials—vinyl flooring, bedding, and furniture—into visceral explorations of history, power, and lived experience.
The film highlights how ideas of value, change, and the constructed nature of meaning are not only central to McMillian's practice, but also shape how his work should be conserved over time.
Watch the video below!
Discover how contemporary artists think about preserving their works in Getty Conservation Institute's Artist Dialogue series, in which artists explore their philosophies, materials, and methods, and share their thoughts on conservation—often for the very first time.
