Remnants and Shadows – Zoe Cree Fitch
August 2-31, 2024
Opening Reception on Friday, August 2, 2024; 5:30p-8:30p
Artist Talk TBA
All artworks are for sale in person or online. See the online gallery to purchase through the Bells Gallery website.
Remnants and Shadows is a solo exhibition by artist Zoe Cree Fitch. The exhibition is on view at Bells Gallery from August 2-31, 2024. A tribute to girlhood, an homage to the matriarchy, and an embrace of suffering nostalgia, Remnants and Shadows fulfills the artist’s vision.
Shadows are fleeting, and remnants decay, but moments of remembrance allow the artist to piece together faint images in an ever-long attempt to construct Southern identity.
Remnants and Shadows Statement
“Coveting treasures from the past is a fond hobby. Domestic spaces intertwine with the landscape. Shadows from these natural spaces become symbols of the female body and her experience. Regional flora is a sticky web that holds and conceals. A memory thread from Meemaw’s hand to the viewer transcends time and material. Thread, pattern, symbols, and palette reflect generational female experiences. Process and place are most important. My work gives homage to regionalism while displaying the visual agony and ecstasy of growing up in the South.“
Artist Statement
“I am inspired by folklore and related forms of vernacular storytelling. These seemingly absurd stories often include characters based on real people, as well as spiritual entities and supernatural occurrences. Textiles are used to tell the stories of these characters and hold memories in their fibers. I employ Southern Gothic narratives that criticize racism, sexism, classism, and the fallout of a decaying economy. The tension between the grotesque and the beautiful fascinates me. The paintings become symbols and have the potential to create and inspire new folklore. Symbols are a bridge between the past and future, which makes the present tolerable. The Southern landscape is used to explore feminist concerns and the place of women in society. My work gives homage to regionalism while displaying the visual agony and ecstasy of growing up in the South.”
Zoe Fitch is a contemporary figurative abstract painter. Fitch accomplished her BFA at The University of Mississippi in 2019 and her MFA at The University of Alabama in 2022. As a Mississippi native, she aspires to tell her personal perspective through her Southern narratives and folklore. Fitch looks to influences in Southern culture, including flora, wildlife, quilts, clothes making, cooking, and other “female-centric” duties. Inspired by her female relatives, Fitch pays homage to the past while commenting on recurring issues.