“Art making enables me to question the human experience of hybrid identity and our cultural preoccupation with identity and borders. In processing this complex issue, I am drawn to the style of absurdist humor adopted by the Dada artists of the early 20th century. I am particularly attracted to this style of art because it playfully provokes conversation rather than lectures or moralizes.My creative objective is to capture, contrast and combine the different traditions, patterns, sounds, and colors that collide within us as we form our own identities. As part of my process, I juxtapose unrelated symbols from different cultures to blur the line between the familiar and the bizarre. For instance, I may contrast elements derived from a childhood memory formed in the vibrant tropics of the Caribbean with that of the beige monochrome of life lived in a small desert town in the American Southwest--both environments from where my own heritage is irreconcilably split. In my mixed-media artwork, I displace elements from these and other divergent places and coax them into a dialogue with one another.Whether the conversant takes the form of a weaponized tumble weed or an anthropomorphic cactus wading gingerly in the unfamiliar waters of the Caribbean sea, the driving force in my artwork is displacement. While the resulting landscapes of displacement I create are fantastical, they emulate the very real experience of hybrid identity.” ~~ Missy Pierce

missypierce.com | Instagram: @missy.pierce

On view: Pompano Beach Cultural Center - October 9 - December 26, 2020