Mary Trunk Pro

Mary Trunk is a multi-media artist formerly based in Altadena, California and now working in Los Angeles. For more than three decades, she has built an eclectic body of work that spans documentaries, dance films, experimental hybrids, and site-specific installations. Her work is grounded in a deep inquiry into how memory and story intertwine, emphasizing the fluid, shifting nature of recollection and narrative.

Her films explore a wide range of subjects: the unraveling of her own family, the choices women face in balancing motherhood and artistic life, the aging of dancers, meditation practices in prisons, architectural influences, and the complexities of the creative process. Through these intimate portraits, she asks fundamental questions about how we interpret personal histories, navigate choices, and search for meaning.

Mary’s experimental videos and screendances highlight the subtleties of space, relationships, gesture, and movement. By reframing overlooked details of daily life, she transforms the ordinary into something layered and dramatic, revealing contradictions and dimensions we all recognize in our own experiences.

Her work has been presented internationally at festivals, museums, universities, and outdoor venues. She holds a BA in Theater Arts with a Dance Emphasis from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MFA in Film from the San Francisco Art Institute. In addition to her personal work, Mary is a full-time faculty member in the Film Department at Mount Saint Mary’s University, where she has produced and directed numerous films documenting the school’s history and its founders. She has teaches film, dance, choreography, and experimental media at Loyola Marymount University.