The thesis exhibition titled …If things go South (2024) is a series of sculptural vignettes that problematizes Southern white nostalgia and its relationship to gender, domesticity and environmental extraction. This work is influenced by my upbringing in the Deep South and deals with the stereotypes I have both rejected and embodied as a white American Southerner. 

The objects of domestic spaces often reflect and reify cultural values and aesthetics; they evoke a sense of security and belonging for the individual that consumes them. Throne for a Wh!te Savior (2024) is a symbolic representation of masculine comfort and authority within the home. The “skinned” recliner reveals the white polyfill underneath but remains treacherous to the touch as broken pieces of metal staples and brads lie hidden amidst the plastic fluff. In Skin Deep (2024), the remaining pieces of leather are laid upon a wooden side table. 

Blanket Statement (2024) is a quilt and pseudo-flag assembled with recycled floral print textiles, old baby blankets and a men’s shirt. This piece embodies the very dissonance of being Southern by being both an item of painstaking care and a contentious symbol of statehood. 

Ghillie (2023) articulates my queer desire to be seen and occupy space without causing harm. This piece is reminiscent of the ghillie suits I had seen in hunting outfitter stores my father and family members would frequent. I reference items within military and Southern hunting culture to draw attention to the naturalization of violence and environmental extraction that undergirds contemporary American society. 

Finally, I have enlisted the help of a familiar fishy face to say a few words about the exhibition in the piece titled Soliloquy (2024). While this exhibition aims to critique an already much-critiqued identity, it is also a bittersweet love letter to the place I call home.