Revisiting the Symbol is an interactive virtual installation reinterpreting Anthony's Lee's 2009 mural on South Main, Modern Hieroglyphs. Lee's mural depicts 25 contemporary pictographs and icons, and asks the question, "How will we understand these symbols a century from now?"
Continuing Lee's inquiry, artist Paige Ellens reflects on the meaning of these symbols in light of a decade of drastic technological change. The planned outdoor installation of Revisiting the Symbol featured a kinetic curtain of VHS tape spanning the 700 ft wall, framing QR codes that would connect viewers to videos created in response to the mural by 25 local, national, and international artists.
Originally intended to open in Spring 2020, plans for the outdoor installation were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project has been re-imagined as a virtual installation, and the 25 original video works can be browsed below:
About the Artists
Paige Ellens is a multimedia artist living in Memphis, TN. She recently completed her first artist residency at Brickscape in West Virginia. Ellens has exhibited throughout the Mid-South in exhibitions such as Art of Science and Best of Memphis. Her work has been shown across Tennessee at the Memphis College of Art, Middle Tennessee State University, Marshall Arts, and Crosstown Arts.
Anthony D. Lee is a native of Memphis, TN. His work has been influenced by the city’s creative atmosphere, its culinary and musical environment, as well as the Civil Rights Movement. Anthony has completed several public art projects with the UrbanArt Commission, among them the award-winning Modern Hieroglyphs mural at Central Station on South Main Street. He also lived on the island of St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the vibrancy of life and color contributed to his artistic development.
About the Revisiting Program
The UrbanArt Commission is celebrating public art projects created over the last 20 years with Revisiting, a series of temporary, site-specific responses to existing public art projects created by Memphis-based artists. The responsive projects and performances of Revisiting bring new life and renewed focus to work that has become a familiar part of our landscape, highlighting existing assets and spaces across our city. By working across different media, disciplines, and public art sites, Revisiting expands the possibilities and encourages new conversations around UAC’s 100+ public art projects in Memphis.
The Revisiting program is generously funded by the First Tennessee Foundation and ArtsMemphis through an ArtsFirst grant.
