Icons and Monuments developed from an examination into the question of how the Good Life is enshrined in public art and commemorative monuments. This question framed a course I was teaching that delved into the fraught history regarding Confederate Monuments, brought to national attention by the White Nationalists attack in Charlottesville, the visit of Richard Spencer to the campus where I teach, and the removal of a confederate monument from the local county courthouse. This research resonates with my long interest in how images are used to embedded meaning in culture. With over seven hundred monuments still standing in public spaces I have been reflecting on how monuments can become vehicles for transformation rather than agents of oppression and tyranny.
Icons +
Monuments
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Current and Upcoming Exhibitions:
2024
Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL
2025 - upcoming
Leland Gallery, Georgia College and State University
Switzer Gallery, Pensacola State College
Work:
Based in the tradition of painting and drawing, my research engages with contemporary issues such as the recent Confederate Monument debates, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, surveillance, and corporate branding practices. I translate data, objects, experiences, and sounds into abstraction and work within the gaps of what I see and what I feel. Working with traditional and non-traditional materials I exploit the interplay between the handmade and technologies; following my inclination to let ideas, rather than materials, lead my studio work.
Julia Morrisroe
University of Florida
School of Art and Art History
P O Box 115801
Gainesville, FL 32605
juliamorrisroe @ gmail.com