JACKSON, Miss. — The Mississippi Museum of Art has announced that DSU Assistant Professor of Art M. Robyn Wall will be among the 15 artists participating in the 2023 Mississippi Invitational exhibition, a survey of recent works created by contemporary visual artists living and working in the state. Also included in the exhibition is former DSU employee Rory Doyle. The exhibition will feature works across a variety of media. The exhibition will run from June 10 – September 17.
Wall is an interdisciplinary artist teaching printmaking, fibers and foundations. Her work has been shown in over one hundred exhibitions in the United States, Canada, Turkey, Portugal, Australia, Italy and Japan. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors from the University of Manitoba, Canada. She studied at the University of New Mexico then received her Master of Fine Arts at Louisiana State University.
Doyle is a freelance photographer based in Cleveland. Born and raised in Maine, Doyle studied journalism at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. In 2009, he moved to Mississippi to pursue a master’s degree at Delta State University. Doyle has remained committed to photographing Mississippi and the South.
This year’s Mississippi Invitational works were selected by guest curator Katie Pfohl, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
“I am thrilled to work with the wonderful team at the Mississippi Museum of Art to create the 2023 Mississippi Invitational,” said Pfohl. “From my seven years as a curator in New Orleans, I know the talent, depth, and thoughtfulness of artists in the Gulf South. I am honored to have this opportunity to continue a dialogue with artists from the region, and craft a project that responds to this moment in Mississippi’s history.”
The art in this year’s Invitational reflects on the theme “Gulfs Among Us,” which confronts a world marked by social, political, cultural, and geographic divisions. The artwork in this exhibition responds to a series of ever-widening gulfs: between people and communities, humans and the environment, and our interior and exterior selves. These 15 artists from across Mississippi are united in envisioning how art can speak across and between divides.
Wall’s statement on her work for the exhibition says, in part, “By examining the transient state of local properties, I am constructing a visual history of my townscape. My work depicts imagery of residential living through the remnants of past and present tenants.”
Invitational artists will be eligible to apply for The Jane Crater Hiatt Artist Fellowship—a grant of up to $20,000 awarded to one artist. The recipient will be announced during an opening reception on June 8.
MMA Director Betsy Bradley said, “I continue to be excited and inspired by the artists in our state. The 2023 Mississippi Invitational, the thirteenth iteration of this exhibition series, will bring audiences together across our many divides. We are grateful to these artists to allow our community to feel more connected to each other.”
A publication accompanying the exhibition will be available in The Museum Store. The Mississippi Invitational and its biennial exhibition, artist fellowship, and catalog are made possible with support from the Community Foundation for Mississippi/Jane Crater Hiatt Fund. For more information, visit msmuseumart.org.
