THE FOCUS

Lester Julian Merriweather (b.1978) is a Memphis-based visual artist. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. He holds an MFA from Memphis College of Art and a BA from Jackson State University. Merriweather has exhibited extensively throughout the U.S. at various venues such as the Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC, TOPS Gallery, CrosstownArts and Powerhouse Memphis, Diverseworks in Houston, Stella Jones Gallery in New Orleans, and the Atlanta Contemporary. He has also exhibited abroad at the...

Rachel Bubis: Your photographic-based work explores the “subjective nature of domestic photographs”. How did you get interested in this subject? Kelly Hider: Even though my background is in painting and drawing, I have always had powerful photography influences. I am from Rochester, NY, home of the Brownie camera, George Eastman Kodak, and the George Eastman House, which is an incredible museum, movie theatre, film and photo restoration center and archive. I took photography classes during undergrad at the Visual Studies Work...

Last month, artist Lynne Ghenov and contributor to The Focus, Ashley Layendecker, sat down together in Lynne’s South Knoxville home for a candid conversation about her work. Ashley Layendecker: I want to start with your discovery of this found paper. Can you describe how you came to find it and how it changed your process? Lynne Ghenov: I’ve always been interested in vintage books and old papers. I’ve also done some collage work in the past using older...