As Flannery O’Connor put it, “We in the South live in a society that is rich in contradiction, rich in irony, rich in contrast, and particularly rich in its speech.” The same can be said of Southern art. From early colonial painters and folk artists to contemporary figures such as Sally Mann, William Eggleston, Thornton Dial, and Jasper Johns, Southern artists have woven regional iconography into their work. Flags, barns, targets, churches, cemeteries, ghosts, decaying mansions, kudzu, and swamps mirror classic scenarios in Southern Gothic literature, suggesting conflicting forces brewing beneath the surface. Our November 2026 exhibition features 23 artists linked to the South examining its effects on their creative development. Whether delving into spirituality and mysticism, investigating rituals and routines, dismantling outdated tropes, or putting a human face on the past, they explore what it’s like to live, work, and breathe below the Mason-Dixon.
Considered the dividing line between the North and the South, this legendary border—surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon for King George III—remains a byword for divisiveness in a fractured America. As red and blue states shift and collide, and gaps between urban and rural perspectives widen and shrink, the work in Southern Gothic touches on a timely array of themes that affect the nation as a whole. From studies of belonging and isolation to reflections on racial violence and celebrations of communal spaces, each piece addresses encounters with Southern culture and history that have made a lasting impact on the artist. Explorations of personal and collective trauma, existential musings, reimagined folk tales, and dramatic studies of darkness and light take viewers on a memorable ride through place and time while reconfiguring notions of the South.
View Southern Gothic, then scroll down for details about the artists and their work.
Southern Living
In the whimsical drawing “Biscuit Basket,” John Michael Byrd weaves memories from his childhood in Louisiana—surrounded by “bad TV, Bible verses, and strong Southern women”— into an inquiry on the person he has become today. “Pig Sty” by Keara Dana invites us to experience the exuberant squalor of her childhood room. Inspired by nature and dreams, Anna Wise conjures moments of connection and growth in “Wild Cartography, No. 56.” “Bluegrass Portrait: Crystal Wilkinson” by James Robert Southard captures the essence of the Kentucky Poet Laureate with references to her writing and objects from their family farm. “Waffle House,” Kate Osmond’s vibrant view of an iconic gathering place in Charleston, SC, puts a contemporary spin on retro images of diners and drive-ins. “Partially Functional,” a surreal autobiographical painting by William Parker, fuses the mundane routines of daily life with the inner workings of his mind.
Rituals and Relics
Isabelle Du Toit transforms pieces of wood into somber, funerary relics that express her grief for a world spiraling out of control. Combining found and hand-built objects in his installation “The Pity,” Colin Knight blends religious symbols with objects referencing London’s Blitz to address his family’s survival during World War II. In “Stigmata,” Ivan Martinez Flores weaves the Catholic notion of wounds appearing on the body into a secular meditation on suffering. Lydia Campbell explores connections between identity and home through daily rituals in “Playing House.” “Meritocracy,” a Dadaist chandelier fashioned from vintage trophies and a dishwasher rack by Linda Erzinger, and Rachel David’s “Savage Horizon Jewelry Cabinet” infuse functional objects with Gothic lushness while playing with the tension between concept and craft.
Through a Glass Darkly
Relearning how to paint after a life-changing event, Harvey Bayliss depicts a moonlit Florida swamp as a tangled web symbolizing decay and regrowth. In “Ghosts in My House,” Elizabeth Alexander discovers a pattern in an eerie tapestry of wallpaper and old paint from her family home while communing with the past. Inspired by old photographs, Ruth Chase examines the conflicting forces of darkness and light in “If There Were No Sun, It Would Be Dark.” In “Liminal 205,” Mattias Case inserts a Southern Gothic vibe into a melancholy image of a lone figure dwarfed by a dimly lit church. Maureen Cain’s chilling photograph of the motel in Tennessee where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, with bullets arranged in the foreground, is part of a sweeping series on gun violence in all 50 states.
The Past Is Never Dead
In “Before the Kudzu Took Us,” Deborah Anderson juxtaposes a resolute couple in front of a peeling antebellum house to examine the spiritual bond between a home and its inhabitants. “Vault,” Peter Allen's lyrical take on Little Red Riding Hood, combines a theatrical backdrop with collaged text to impose a new narrative on a classic tale. In “Atlantic Senses,” April Fitzpatrick layers colors and textures with colonialist symbolism to explore issues of identity and migration. Leaning on the rail of an iconic Southern cabin, Sharony Green acknowledges the pain of human interactions in “Love One Another 3.” Christine Stoddard’s "My Virginia Cemeteries, No. 2” inspired her to make a feature film. In “Black Wall Street Exoplanet,” Zahyr Lauren (The Artist L.Haz) imagines their Southern grandmother entering a Black Wall Street in heaven based on a thriving business district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, destroyed in an act of racial violence in 1921.
All images published with permission of the artist(s); featured graphic for Southern Gothic editing by Elise Wilson.