‘Athenia’ by Randy Hayes is one of the work on display in the ‘Unwritten Memoir’ exhibit. His work will be on display through Dec. 9. Submitted photo
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi Museum debuts “Unwritten Memoir,” an exhibit by Holly Springs artist Randy Hayes, on Tuesday (Aug. 22).
“Unwritten Memoir” reflects visual memories of Hayes’ time spent in Turkey, Japan and the American South from 2004 to the present. These memories present three different cultures through photographs, objects and paintings.
“To paraphrase the novelist Bharati Mukherjee, I am trying to make the familiar exotic and the exotic familiar,” Hayes said.
The exhibit opens at 10 a.m. Tuesday and will be a featured stop on the Oxford Arts Crawl later that evening.
“The University of Mississippi Museum is honored and excited to share with its audiences and its campus community the work of exceptionally gifted artist Randy Hayes,” said Robert Saarnio, museum director. “We’ve been privileged to have exhibited Mr. Hayes’ work previously in 2009, with this show offering a more comprehensive representation of the range of this artist’s remarkable skills, and his dynamic approach to layering of imagery in its overlays of the photographed with the painted.
“Associated with objects from the artist’s personal travels, the wall-hung works resonate powerfully and their gridded formatting rewards repeated viewing. We eagerly look forward to our visitors’ experiences of these compelling and fascinating pieces.”
Though a native Mississippian, Hayes spent the majority of his career in Seattle. His work is featured in many public and private collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Mississippi Museum of Art and the U.S. Department of State. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York also previously exhibited his work.
An opening reception with Hayes is scheduled in conjunction with the museum’s annual membership party for 6-8 p.m. Sept. 14.
The exhibit will be available for viewing through Dec. 9.
For more information about the museum and its exhibits, visit http://museum.olemiss.edu/.