Statement
As an artist, I am contributing visual representation to create inclusion of Florida's Southern culture into contemporary Southern discourse. When formal discussions of the American southeast arise, Florida is included because it is regionally southeastern, but the consensus on whether Florida belongs to Southern culture or not isn't consistent either among Floridians or rural Southerners residing outside Florida.
I am examining what it means to be raised as a Southern woman and a Southern person turned from religion, and I reference my childhood experience in Northwest Florida to do so. Using photography, embroidery, and printmaking processes, I relate my experiences to the identity I tried to abandon in my youth and how it persists in my beliefs today. By creating this space for the Florida-Southern identity, I hope to facilitate a more unified community within the South and inspire forward progress in people from communities like my own.
Bio
Brittani Brown is an artist born and raised in Mossy Head, FL and based in Orlando, FL. She received her B.F.A. in Studio Art in 2021 and is in the process of obtaining her M.F.A. in Emerging Media: Studio Art and Design in 2025 – both from the University of Central Florida. Her work studies her own reaction to poignant events of her childhood and encourages learning and understanding primarily using embroidery, printmaking, and photography. Brittani has participated in several group art exhibitions including First Thursdays at Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando Film Photography Association’s annual Film Photography Exhibition, and the Juried Graduate Exhibition at the University of Mississippi.