Josh Harris
Josh Harris is a BFA candidate at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, whose primary focus is in drawing and illustration. He lives in Chelsea Alabama and graduated from Chelsea High School. He has shown in juried exhibitions at the Abroms-Engel Institute of Visual Arts in Birmingham and the Gadsden Museum of Art. His illustrations combine digital and traditional practices to depict mythological and fantastical narratives for a contemporary audience. He seeks to create his own original series of graphic novels exploring the world of his artwork.
Artist Statement.
My work focuses on the creation of a fantastical world that I have named Brightsong. Within this world, I create compelling narratives that allow viewers to explore Brightsong and the characters I depict. This world and these narratives are based on my deep fascination with storytelling and myth. I pull imagery, creatures, and figures from folklore to populate Brightsong and the narratives therein in order create my own personal mythology. To further emphasize the relationship between existing myths and my own, I create textures and illustrations through traditional processes like mono-printing, gouache painting, and ink drawing which are then completed as digital illustrations and printed very large or as interactive objects. I use a specific taxonomy of color to push the themes of these narratives and create unique settings.
As I create this mythology, I draw primarily from Scandinavian and Celtic folklore because those are the cultures of my ancestry. I also pull imagery from Greek and Roman mythology because I grew up with those stories. Creating personal narratives based on these mythologies will forge a connection with my ancestors and craft stories with themes that reflect my experiences in the world. Furthermore, this pursuit honors the oral traditions that gave us these stories in the first place. Traditions and practices come from institutions, but stories are passed down by individuals and families/groups. Their stories, values, and experiences reflect the thoughts and feelings of individuals and families rather than the values of their society/institutions.
Crucially, I am creating a mythology that reflects the personal nature I believe myths should have. I’m still researching myths and stories for my BFA exhibition in 2025 that I will incorporate further as well as actively creating images and find new ways of visually creating compelling objects in the world. My illustrations and narratives are meant to inspire viewers on a similar journey. I’m interested in creating a contemporary compendium of visual images and text narratives that preserve my history and human struggle. Ultimately, my work will have a print destiny and a unique manuscript outcome opportunity for exhibition and library collection or other archive opportunities.