Alexandra Robinson: A.M.E.R.I.C.A.N.A.
December 2024 to February 2025
Nylon flags approx. 12” x 16”
928 NW 21st Ave, Gainesville, Florida
Artist Statement
The term A.M.E.R.I.C.A.N.A. relates to the history, geography, folklore, and cultural heritage of the United States of America. Americana is any collection of materials and things concerning or characteristic of the United States or of the American people and is stereotypical of American culture. You can think about small towns, apple pie, or lyrics to songs. The images conjured are often idyllic scenes portrayed in Normal Rockwell Saturday Evening Post images. The contrast of the meaning of the term Americana and the presentation of it in Blackletter embodies the contrast of whose image is represented in the term. Indeed, presenting each letter in flag form and using the NATO phonetic alphabet infers a communication across a distance whether geographic or cultural.
Curatorial Statement
Alexandra Robinson’s A.M.E.R.I.C.A.N.A. (2022) invites us to reflect on symbols of nationalism and identity. The series features nylon flags with the word “Americana” spelled out. Robinson uses the NATO phonetic alphabet to present each letter, transforming the flags into a means of cross-cultural communication. The work prompts us to consider whose voices are heard and whose identities are acknowledged. By recontextualizing symbols like flags and codes, Robinson explores themes of belonging and exclusion. Her flags function not as emblems of a single nation, but as a collection of fragmented identities and stories. A.M.E.R.I.C.A.N.A. challenges us to rethink symbols we take for granted, encouraging dialogue across boundaries. Through her thoughtful reimagining of familiar forms, Robinson’s work offers a fresh perspective on connection, communication, and identity in a divided world.
Artist Biography
Alexandra Robinson is a visual artist who uses coded language and symbols to explore ideas of identity and place. She grew up in the military with her immediate family, an intersection of her Mexican and Jewish heritages. Robinson was a child of worlds in which histories, language and religion were repressed or traded for other identities and it is these themes that continually inform her work. Using Morse code, flag semaphore and the flag form Robinson appropriates symbols of American exceptionalism informed by her upbringing and familiarity with military family life, American ideals, and an attraction to language and meaning. The work conjures ideas of nation, place, power, and identity and her own interest in what it means to be Mexican-American. She received her MFA from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and currently teaches at St. Edward’s University in Austin where she is a Professor of Art. Robinson lives with her husband and two daughters shuttling from studio to rehearsal to practice. She has exhibited throughout the country and internationally, most recently at the Charlotte Street Foundation Kansas City, The Contemporary Austin, Women and Their Work and Artpace.
Upcoming Exhibitions
TBD
References (yes, in a curatorial statement)
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Ski, M. & Luger, C. H. Artist Talk: Cannupa Hanska Luger. Preprint at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EcEEF4Y-0Q&feature=emb_title (2020).
The Solarpunk Community. A Solarpunk Manifesto (English) – ReDes – Regenerative Design. Regenerative Design http://www.re-des.org/a-solarpunk-manifesto/.
heather ahtone, PhD. Shifting the Paradigm: A Love Story. (2021).
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