Southern Exposure: Mary Hardy

​​SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
​-SUBMITTED WORK AND STATEMENTS BY MISSISSIPPI ARTISTS
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MARY HARDY

http://maryhardystudio.com
https://www.instagram.com/maryhardyart/​

"I define my work as “poetic” because I do not strive for it to be “literal” or illustrative. It is rather an exploration of depth and surface, past and present incited by the transformational qualities of dreams, memory, myth and lore. Pieces of images come from those places triggered by a thought or experience. I take those pieces wondering, “what would happen if ?…”. I start fitting them together, layering, painting, drawing, sewing and collaging. I work intuitively until a new relationship starts to evolve. I am enamored with, RAW textured SURFACES because they reveal a life lived, AND deep, quiet, dreamy ATMOSPHERIC SPACES that instill rest and reflection. Between those two realms is where my images exist and are the emphasis and connection between the individual works. The photographic elements I use have a mysterious quality that is intriguing to me as well. Containing their own “history”(mostly unknown), the photographs serve as a portal to look back in to the past and initiate wonder. I use various other collage materials that have a more actual tactile quality which causes them to exist literally on the surface and therefore, in the present. I apply many layers of materials “wandering” between surface and depth, past and present. My intention is for the work to be thought provoking and for it to create an experience of wonder and discovery."  - Mary Hardy