River, Mixed-media installation with steel chains and rope. 7 × 89 × 358 in., 1972/2011
In the mid-1980s, Hassinger relocated to New York after being invited to participate in the Artist-in-Residence program at the Studio Museum in Harlem. She has also worked as an educator, serving for 20 years as the director of the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Throughout her career, Hassinger’s work has continued to engage with the natural environment and repurpose synthetic materials, including woven newspapers and pink plastic trash bags. More recently, she has begun to overtly consider intersections of the environment with discrimination and race. About her more recent approach to nature in her art, Hassinger said, “Now, I’m using it to talk about equality. Nature is used as form, like a piece of architecture, not ecology.” moma.org