Artist Statement
For most of her artistic career, Jill Pope’s paintings have embraced the movement between time and place by making use of maps, both actual and re-imagined, to better define and describe an otherwise unattainable landscape.
Maps are used to define, and direct us to, a destination. We accept maps as factual and permanent, yet they are subjective, open for interpretation, and inclined to change over time. A map is merely a tool to aid us on a journey; they lend substance and structure to an otherwise aimless meandering.
In her paintings, Pope joins personally charged iconography with layers and sections of actual maps. Most recently, adapting these references and materials to address the atrocities taking place in Darfur, Sudan. The paintings are complex in their symbolism and beautiful in their fluidity, luring the viewer in to confront an often-overlooked reality: those who have nothing: no home, and no safety.
Jill Pope received her MFA from Georgia State University in Atlanta. Her paintings are held in numerous private and corporate collections.