It Will Be More Beautiful Than You Could Ever Imagine

The Art of Susan O’Malley

The first career-spanning monograph of the healing and optimistic art of Susan O’Malley, presenting all her major works in photographs that burst with color and energy.

The first career-spanning monograph of the healing and optimistic art of Susan O’Malley, presenting all her major works in photographs that burst with color and energy.

Deeply rooted in the San Francisco Bay Area throughout the early 2000s, Susan O’Malley engaged her community with unconventional artistic methods: personalized pep talks, site-specific art installations in strip malls, and billboards in bus shelters. Endlessly inventive and empathetic, O’Malley offered reminders that we are all connected and that everyday life holds profound meaning and beauty.

In this immersive book, O’Malley’s major works are presented in vibrant, full color. To encompass her community-focused oeuvre, twenty-four of her collaborators and friends have contributed essays, including Janet Bishop, Chief Curator at SFMOMA, and the beloved illustrator Carissa Potter. This chorus of art luminaries guides you through O’Malley’s extraordinary career, including: 

• Her self-appointed artist residency in suburban San Jose, where she transformed her neighbors’ lawns into artworks.
• The intimate reflections on memory and loss in her My Healing Garden is Green project.
• Her iconic public art series Advice From My 80-Year-Old Self, which offered messages like “It Is Possible” and “Enjoy Your Hair While You Have It.”

This volume reveals O’Malley’s pivotal role in the emergence of Social Practice Art in the Bay Area and her enduring legacy in the broader community-engaged art world since her untimely death in 2015. It is a vibrant monument to a one-of-a-kind artist and belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in community building and hopeful creativity.