Nancy Morrow

Doll
mixed media and paper
17 x 14 in.

Having grown up during the 60’s and 70’s, my work explores what it means to be female in this country during the later half of the 20th century-an era when feminist ideals intermingled with traditional gender expectations. At times my work is a celebration of the conventional, at times, a kind of self-parody or tongue-in-cheek look at confining categories, and at times, a rejection of scripted roles for both men and women.

Many of the works included in this group were done in response to a recent trip I made to the U.K. Seeing myself through what I imagined was another culture’s eyes, my usual questions about gender expectations expanded to include thoughts of my own cultural identity.

Visual images and text are layered and/or juxtaposed in a variety of media. Drawings from life, clippings, fortunes, lottery tickets, commercial and photographic images are all added to the mix, reminding me of the role that cultural remnants plays in forming an individual’s identity.

Satires of Freudian psychology, Greek mythology and popular culture continue to lace their way through autobiographical content creating a type of disjointed narrative, symbolic of my experience. The viewer, like a traveler, is invited to decipher meaning outside of the familiar context, and to construct the message based on their own interpretation and experiences.
© Nancy Morrow