Kitsch Meridian
“Kitsch Meridian” (2025) was created by layering acrylic paint onto particle board, measuring 48 by 24 inches. Similar to the first piece in this series exploring the interplay between memory and identity, I drew inspiration from an old photograph, this time from a trip my family took to the Keys. I also kept the abstraction consistent, merging elements of this building with the plastic fish statue that sits atop it and the figure that stands in the forefront. This was done to keep the main themes of this series aligned, ensuring that the most dominant idea is the fleeting nature of memory and its inherent ephemerality.
However, I wanted this painting to be an evolution from the last, now incorporating a complementary color scheme for added visual complexity and extra emphasis on the human figure. When experiencing memory I tend to remember the people present more clearly than the surrounding environment, almost as if my recollection narrows into tunnel vision. I replicated this effect by using the more intense orange on the figure while only sprinkling it throughout the rest of the composition. I also decided to incorporate more dripping paint into the process. This method makes it appear as if the painting is melting onto itself, almost as if this memory is collapsing inwards into obscurity.
On a more general note, the marlin atop the building serves as a grander symbol for South Floridian culture and its impermanence as well. Echoing themes explored in Jennifer Price’s The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History, I use this kitsch-laced iconography to question what remains of South Florida’s cultural identity as historical communities are erased through gentrification, economic stratification, and exclusionary politics. Like the plastic flamingos Price critiques, symbols of both nostalgia and cultural displacement, the marlin becomes a stand-in for a performative and dissolving regional identity.
Ultimately, the piece, while grounded in personal memory, gestures toward a collective erasure, where historic neighborhoods, diasporic identities, and community-rooted culture are displaced in favor of profit and palatability.
In this way, the painting sits at the intersection of personal recollection and broader cultural critique. It memorializes not just a moment in my life, but a moment in South Florida’s identity: fragile, fluid, and under threat. As with the rest of the series, this work invites viewers to confront what is being lost not only within themselves, but around them. Memory, like place, can dissolve without notice. This painting attempts to slow that process just long enough to witness it.
