STARKVILLE — “How do you grieve something that is still happening to you?”

Artist Kariann Fuqua asked this question at her talk “Grief, Loss and Resilience in the Anthropocene” at Mississippi State University on Thursday morning, discussing her anxiety and fear over climate change and her newest art exhibition “Terra Infirma,” currently on display at the Cullis Wade Depot Gallery until Sept. 23.

Fuqua’s talk was followed by a reception on Thursday evening, where she discussed the same concern with The Dispatch.

“It’s an existential crisis that we’re all dealing with,” Fuqua said. “It’s a very real thing that’s happening in a quick … amount of time and it affects everyone. It already has, on a global scale.”

Fuqua is an Instructional Assistant Professor of Art and the Director of Museum Studies at the University of Mississippi, and has been creating art for about 20 years. But the collection in her “Terra Infirma” exhibition spans her work from 2021-2023.

During Fuqua’s talk, she said her previous work was based on natural disasters, including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and her experience living through Hurricane Harvey while living in Houston, Texas.

But after moving to Oxford, Fuqua’s work became informed by nature in other ways. At the beginning of the pandemic, Fuqua started entering the forest behind her house and taking photos of the treetops, piecing together photos of the same place at different times throughout the day to create one image.

Over time, her art evolved to include just one photo of treetops with abstract drawings underneath.

“The photograph kind of represents the order,” Fuqua said. “The edges create a particular boundary and order to something that I’m trying to break out of. The mark making outside of the photograph is my way of sort of expressing that idea of chaos and uncontrollability that is so evident in our natural world.”

More than 20 of these kinds of images made with graphite, ink and a digital photograph in the middle, can be found in Cullis Wade Depot Gallery, including “Terrestrial Aggression,” a piece that is about eight feet tall.

Lori Neuenfeldt, Gallery Director and Instructor, said she was introduced to Fuqua’s work by one of her fellow faculty members, collaborating to choose what should be made available to students and the public.

“Everyone should find time to come out to this space,” Neuenfeldt said. “We’re free, we’re accessible, we’re open to the public. Anyone who has never been to a museum or an art gallery should come to MSU and see this one.”

Neuenfeldt said the exhibition is available for public viewing on Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., along with a special Saturday hours on home game weekends and the weekend of the Cotton District Arts Festival.