Artist Statement
My art exists because of my dual upbringing in Los Angeles, California with my mom and Aberdeen, Mississippi with my dad and grandparents. The contrast between these two places and experiences molded who I am. My art combines the culture of two generations: mine and my grandparents’. By layering ink and media, my work demonstrates the effects my grandparents’ southern mentality had on my character. They took every opportunity to share themselves with me. Parts of them became parts of me. My art is a refusal to let these parts die. I reveal this phenomenon through imagery and colors, influenced by my synesthesia, memories, and consciousness. My work recalls iconography, ideals, and shared experiences of multiple generations. It embodies the residue of my grandparents’ generation, revealing how it seeps into mine. A way of life that started in the 1940s crept into mine in the 1990s, carrying on into the present day. I continuously recall cultural notions, especially the boundaries of consumerism before the internet. I expose what is taken for granted within and because of today’s social media culture. My art asks people to slow down, find comfort and immerse themselves in what immediately surrounds them.
Artist Bio
Meredith Phillips is a visual artist who grew up spending time between Northern Mississippi and Southern California. She received her BFA in printmaking from SCAD in 2018 and specializes in printmaking, collage, and drawing. Her work focuses on color, shapes, and the cultural differences she felt in her youth between the Deep South and Los Angeles in the 90s and early 2000s.
In her spare time she draws and paints animals, a practice she has kept since childhood.
Contact:
Instagram: meredithphillipsart
Artists Collective | Spartanburg: Member since October 2026
