Laura Colomb
Laura Colomb lives and works in Jacksonville Beach. She holds an MFA from Boston
University and has exhibited internationally. Her Florida-based work is making art world waves, including a cover for ilikeyourwork podcast's spring catalog, curated by Sally Morgan Lehman of Morgan Lehman Gallery, NYC. Colomb holds various awards including an Art Ventures grant from the Community Foundation of NE Florida, and the Starr Fellowship from the Royal Academy of the Arts in London, UK. She has taught at the University of North Florida, Boston University, the College of Saint Rose, and SUNY Adirondack. Colomb has curated and organized exhibitions for galleries including Saratoga Arts in NY, and has been guest critic/speaker for institutions including Camberwell College of Art in London, UK, and The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY.
Of her work Colomb says: Most major natural spaces, where one can really experience raw nature, are through State and National Parks; many initially protected due to their proximity to sites which contained historical significance. Exploring this land, I am struck by the contradiction of these utterly incredible, beautiful, awe-inspiring spaces adjoining historical sites where extremely violent events and massive crimes of injustice often took place. This dichotomy of how we preserve history containing some of the worst aspects of our past, along with preserving our spaces of natural splendor fascinates me. I strive to explore this duality in my work, to see if it is possible to show this tension through a traditional landscape approach. Through this process I’m left with questions as to whether history can leave a trace on the land, if it mars it in some way, if the spirits of those lost can be felt and experienced in the light that filters through the trees and in the stillness of the unmoving air. My recent work has been focusing on these such sites just outside my current city of Jacksonville, FL; primarily Kingsley Plantation, Fort Caroline National Monument and the Talbot Islands State Parks. The heat of Florida, the swamps, the humidity and the bugs only add to the sense of foreboding as I try to imagine what the stolen and displaced people who built these sites felt, as they found themselves in this poisoned Garden of Eden. The density of these forests, with the ominous rustle of creatures moving close next to you, but which you can't see, create a miasma of nightmare. Yet, in the light, the greenery, and the scrub, there is a rich beauty, as if steeped in a world where time stands still, where one can still momentarily get lost in the romanticism of the natural landscape. As I explore the essence of this land, I am reminded of its impermanence, located on the edges of a rising sea. A rising caused by climate change, another testament to the ravages of capitalism and colonialism. This location witnessed many horrors, and I have begun to think of the trees as sentinels, keeping watch. I paint the trees and shrubs as types of portraits, often echoing the centrality in light and placement, of a Christ figure in a crucifixion painting. This connection to Christianity, key in its relationship to colonialism, feels appropriate to make when working from this land.