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UWF Art Gallery Hosts Reception For Summer Installation

University of West Florida alum Marzia Ransom has created a unique, large scale painting that is her interpretation of a Greek epic poem. The painting is on display in The Art Gallery at UWF.

Since the beginning of July, Ransom, a University of West Florida alum, has been painting a 32-foot long, 4-foot tall frieze in The Art Gallery at the UWF. The frieze is her interpretation of Homer’ Greek epic poem, the Odyssey through the female perspective.

The Odyssey focuses on the long journey home of Odysseus to his wife Penelope after the fall of Troy. The frieze illustrates the characters that Odysseus encounters along the way.

“Took him 20 years between the Iliad and the Odyssey, and I thought Okay, that was a great story, but why? Why did it take you that that long? And it had to do with women and how they hindered or helped him through his journey back. And so, as a woman, as a mother, as a companion, as a friend, I thought well, these are all small or large emotions that everyone goes through and I wanted to be able to represent them within a body of work.”

Ransom’s friends and family, including her two daughters, served as the models for the female characters Odysseus meets in the Odyssey.

“The point of this was to introduce women that I knew, that I loved, that I respected. So I made a call, and they showed up. They all showed up for this. So, I took the photos. I posed them. I dressed them up and then I photographed them and then I transferred the photographs into the composition.

The frieze is one of four works related to the Odyssey that Ransom has created. They will be on display when he Art Gallery hosts a closing reception and gallery talk with Ransom on September 7, from 5-8 p.m.

“I hope to engage in a conversation. You know, this is my version of the story and it’s based on a lot of research. And I have not only ready The Odyssey yet again, but I consulted different papers in regards to how women were perceived by writers, historians, so on and so forth, and art historians. And so I hope to spark a conversation. “

The gallery talk will last from 5-6 p.m. The Art Gallery is located on the in The Center for Fine and Performing Arts, Building 82. The event is free and open to the public.

Richard Conn works as a staff writer for the Center for Research and Economic Opportunity at the University of West Florida.