Originally from Canton, Mississippi, Carl E. Moore currently lives and works in Memphis as an artist and designer. He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received his BFA and MFA degrees from the Memphis College of Art. Moore’s work has been exhibited in regional and national exhibitions, and he was the recipient of the 2017 Emmett O’Ryan Award for Artistic Inspiration from ArtsMemphis.
Carl E. Moore’s monumental multi-panel painting My South stems from the artist’s ongoing body of work focusing on the everyday dimensions of Black American life. Rendered in Moore’s characteristic style of solid colors and bold outlines, the painting explores the artist’s memories of growing up in the South. Set against rural and urban landscapes, his figures are situated in a blissful, nurturing state, surrounded by flowers, fruits, and honeybees. While much of the artist’s work focuses on racial identity and color, his use of black here shifts attention away from the race of the figures and instead to a more universal experience.
Moore wanted My South to draw attention away from stereotypes that deal with race and culture through a negative lens. The painting is about environment and identity and how the South is, in many ways, no different than any other place. There is life, love, history, and family. For the artist, the painting is also personal: it is about growing up in Mississippi, the memories of his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and moving away knowing that he would always have a home to which he could return.
-Patricia Lee Daigle
