Written by: Madison Connolly
Phylisicia Lundy, originally from Americus, Georgia, presented multiple series of work in the Senior Exhibition titled “Spectrum” in the Valdosta State University Gallery. All series within Phylisica’s part of the show use photography, graphic design and ceramics and express a common theme throughout all of them. Lundy stated that “humanism, individuality, investigation, and critique” are just a few of the common themes that run throughout her pieces. She explains “I use art as a tool to shed light on certain situations that might need to be addressed.” She talks about the idea of “introspection and extrospection”, “Intro” being the things happening within oneself and “extro” being the things happening outside oneself.
Phyliscia Lundy, Unspoken Truths, 2023
When you see Phylisica’s pieces you are first greeted with Unspoken Truths. This series is a collection of five different graphic design and photographic pieces. Each different piece expresses a situation between the white and black communities. Some of the situations were personal to Phylisica and some were events that were covered nationwide including one of the pieces that showcased the incident between George Floyd and the Police Officer. Each of the pieces comes together to create the series that expresses the struggles the black community goes through within Southern towns. Unspoken Truths and Mayberry Juxtapose were the two pieces within her section that she loved the most. She believes that those two series are the two that she can relate the most to due to them being based in Valdosta and Southern towns. Mayberry Juxtapose was inspired by Gordan Parks “I am You.” These pieces were made to show the relationship between the black and white side of Valdosta. Phylisica talks about how these pieces show the “not so perfect side of Valdosta” and show the side of town that is considered to be more run down. Synopsis is a ceramic piece that is inspired by psychology and sociology classes that Phylisica took while at Valdosta State University. It is a ceramic piece showing how ‘our neurons cluster” due to overstimulation or traumatic events. Then lastly is Formation which is a piece that uses expression of dance and fashion to talk about the LGBT community.
Phyliscia Lundy, Mayberry Juxtapose, 2022
Phyliscia uses her artwork and her spot in this show as an opportunity to shed light on situations that need to be talked about more. She explains “Some of the topics may inspire someone else.” As I asked her what she wanted someone to take away from her show Phyliscia responded with “a sense of seeing representation.” She explains her art works as vibrant and different due to the representation of Black women within her pieces. Throughout the growth of Lundy’s pieces you can see the pieces sharing more and more about situations that need to be talked about.
After college, Phylicia plans to open a community center and museum so that she can influence upcoming artists to gain opportunities and work with big corporations and get their name out there. She believes that everyone should use their artwork to shed light on situations so that is why she plans to open this museum/studio in order to share that kind of work with everyone.