My passion for visual arts influences my anthropological and personal work. On this page you'll find a collection of some of my art—in connection with my ethnographic research, as part of community outreach, and for personal projects.
Residual Stuff: collage of ethnographic pasts untold
During research, ethnographers collect minute details in anticipation of their possible future value. However, most of these materials never make it into publications or presentations. A protest flyer retrieved from the gutter, a sketch meant to capture what field notes could not, or a leaf that fell from the mango tree into your lap during a long community meeting. These treasures hide in notebooks, boxes, hard drives, and file cabinets. In many ways, this ethnographic collection parallels the practices of the communities I worked with in María la Baja, Colombia. Seeking victim reparations, communities collected memories and documentation of war in hopes that proof of violent pasts would ensure access to peaceful futures. Yet, both my ethnographic record and communal archives of violent pasts often remain unseen or unheard. In other cases, a formal declaration of victimhood or a published article offer the polished and sanitized version of complex experiences. Through a series of mixed-media collages, I honor the layers of untold stories.
Murals in Medellín, Colombia
In 2013, I volunteered with the Fundación Poder Joven, a Medellïn-based non-profit organization that provides after-school programing to children, including those affected by the armed conflict. I taught art classes to children ages 5-13 and I created an arts-based curriculum in Spanish for future teachers. At the organizations request, I collaborated with the kids to design and create a rainforest mural in their classroom and a circus-themed board for announcing monthly birthdays.
Children's Book Project: Shiner
In 1991, James Bruce Merriman (my dad) wrote a children's book, titled Shiner based on his childhood memories in the 1950s of a crow that would bring him shiny treasures. In 2019, I excavated the only printed copy of his book from the back of an old file cabinet, edited the text, illustrated the pages, and self-published Shiner for the next generation of our family. Above are a few excerpts from the book.
Design Projects
Above are a few examples of my design and logo projects.
Abstract Paintings
I created this body of work in 2008-2009 as part of my senior thesis at Cornell College.