instead, the comparison that Martha's panels forced between inadequate words and inadequate pictures inadvertently brought together artists, critics and academics interested in semiotics, cultural criticism and political action. it meshed with the wider academic and artistic emphasis on what was called 'thinking photography', which, in turn, had the unexpected result of increasing interest in image-making as well as in the history of photography. other Martha works, such as those in her 'Body Beautiful' panels, connected to contemporary feminism with its emphasis on gender as a performance rather than an essence. in more recent efforts Martha, who works in many media, used photography to examine public spaces such as airports and highways, in photographs whose colors were both irritating and alienating. and, to the great delight of New Yorkers, she staged her 'Meta-Monumental Garage Sale' which was exactly that, minus the garage, in the large atrium of the Museum of Modern Art in 2012