Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Date

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Department

Art

Committee Chair

Hamlett Dobbins

Committee Member

Hamlett Dobbins

Committee Member

Lisa Williamson

Committee Member

Richard Lou

Abstract

My thesis work, Dixie Knights , Dissonance and Contradictions uses painting, ceramics, illustration, and installation to ask, “What does it mean to be Southern in contemporary times?” Using Willie Morris’s opening statements in The Southern Album, it is grappled through a post-digital lens. The works use collaged quilt patterns, pixelized video game references, surreal interior/exterior spaces, art historical dialogue and auto-biographical details. These motifs explore the complexities of how Southerness is impacted by class, history, race, occupation, being in a state of constant cognitive dissonance, and cultural synthesis that occurs when different moments of influence come together to create new worlds. The element of cognitive dissonance is reinforced through different visual languages coexisting in the compositions. A conversational method of creating and depicting imagery is congruent throughout the mediums represented. Terminology: post-digital, surrealism, cognitive dissonance, cultural synthesis.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest/Clarivate.

Notes

Open Access

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