Jamie Miller, American
Creature Comforts and Bootstrap Stew, 2022
Miller’s artwork is meant to draw the viewers in with bright colors, folklore, and cute animals. Once she has captured your attention, her work tells a deeper and darker story of mountain destruction, fragile communities, toxic water, and a resilient people. Creature Comforts and Bootstrap Stew depicts a fawn wearing a red bandana around its neck, the communist or union symbol that originally led to the term “redneck.” Patched up, teary-eyed, and stripped of its own heart, I imagine this fawn acts as an activist against the coal and opioid companies plaguing Appalachian communities in honor of the ghosts depicted in the background. Label by Jordan Hadlock