Tennessee-based artist Ripley Whiteside creates art as a way to explore and connect to nature, history and speculative ecological futures. In a wide-ranging conversation spanning, contemporary ecological thought, invasive species and an ancient Medieval text—the Augsburg Book of Miracles—the conversation looks at the mysterious constructs of our understanding of nature. His place-based work is inspired by time spent Montreal, North Carolina and his home in Tennessee.

Bio:

Ripley Whiteside was born in 1982 and grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 2012 he graduated with an MFA from SUNY-Buffalo, and he received a BFA from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2008. He is a drawer, painter and printmaker, and has participated in solo and group exhibitions in the US and Canada. His work is represented by Red Arrow Gallery in Nashville, and Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain in Montreal. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Austin Peay State University, and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

This conversation is produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.