Visakha Jane Phillips (b. 1999 Columbus, Indiana) is a painter living and working in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work is an act of synthesizing memory, family history, and place. The collaged nature of her paintings speaks to this synthesis and serves to mimic the convoluted nature of memory and blurriness of familial narratives. Many objects incorporated throughout the paintings are seemingly arbitrary but hold weight in memory for their feeling of permanence. Despite memory and the passage of time being at the foundation of her work, she has made efforts to evoke an impression more dreamlike than nostalgic; though she wants some aspects to stay true to their reality for the sake of legibility, she makes no attempt to depict scenes realistically. Phillips wishes for her paintings to feel as alive as their location still is.

“The mural is a synthesis of memory and family history using imagery from varying periods of time. Bits of the scene are sourced from family images, personal experiences, and inherited narratives all unified by place. Images of my mother, sister, aunt, and grandma are pieced together to pay homage to the collective histories that have formed my sense of identity. The ghostly painting of some elements speaks to the passage of time and acknowledges the concept that I have been shaped by happenings unknown to me. The moon serves as a symbol of self, since I was born and named after a holiday that falls on the full moon.”

Photos Drew Borders, Jim Stringer
Curator Drew Borders