Untitled
Mary Elizabeth Kimbrough • Mixed media on panel
Artist’s statement: “To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel so closely associated with the state of Alabama that I felt the need to include a map of the USA in the picture. After all, every state in the union was affected by racism and segregation. The novel speaks to so many people about this topic that the small town of Monroeville is known far and wide as the setting for Maycomb. I tried to include images that I associate with the story: white houses, mockingbirds, ham and cotton. I also tried hard to avoid a narrative, because Harper Lee has already provided the story. It is my job as a visual artist to respond without retelling the story. The story is a tragic one, and the story of race in America, in Alabama even, is full of sad stories. Still we have come to a much better place in contemporary America. We have a black president, and Southern towns and cities are integrated in most segments of society. The civil rights movement has many heroes, some living and some dead, some even martyred to the cause, and Harper Lee’s story has helped many see the racial troubles of the South in a personal way, through the author’s childlike eyes. My picture has some text in it also, because this is a reaction to a text. I am attempting to let the viewer know that this piece has parts of both past, present and future in it. That is because To Kill a Mockingbird will continue on and on.”